Meeting Places
by Cyblade Silver
Summary: Traveling back to the United States, Ryan finds himself in the middle of a war between Chronos and a secret branch of the US military dedicated to wiping them out. There, he meets with fellow Guyver, Sean Barker.
1. Nowhere Man

_**Disclaimer: **None of the characters in this story belong to me, with the exception of Ryan, Ingriam, and some miscellaneous Zoanoids. I'm aware that this builds off of events in the first live action movie – which I have often stated is apochrophal in my personal canon – but bear with me. I do have my reasons._

**Meeting Places**

The black helicopter, nearly invisible in the darkness, flew steadily over the night-dark water. It was a Chronos transport, and it was currently carrying a very important person from another branch of the Chronos Corporation. The job of this particular VIP wasn't one that most people would envy, since he was here to see about making a great deal of changes to the Los Angeles branch.

The branch of Chronos was by far the newest, and therefore the most underdeveloped branch of the organization. The VIP was coming to change all of that. He had been briefed about the fact that the Zoalord who was now in temporary command of operations for this branch, one Edward Caerleon, was very open-minded. Caerleon was also very loyal to Alkanphel, and so he had been sent to give his aid to his fellow Zoalord.

It had also been reported that there were still a few supporters of the traitor Gyou – the late Regional Commander – among the personnel at Chronos in this hemisphere. Another of his tasks was to root out the remaining traitors and eliminate them. He could see the landing site coming up through the darkness. He could also sense the Zoanoids that were waiting for him there.

The seven "aides" he had personally selected to come with him on this mission were starting to get impatient—he could tell by the way they were talking, but he was also occasionally monitoring their thoughts the way Mr. Dr. Balkus had said he should. As their helicopter settled to the ground, the Zoalord could also see the other man waiting for them; human, from the way the Zoanoids around him were reacting to him.

There was also the matter of the man's uncanny physical resemblance to another person, someone that all Chronos personnel were trained to be on the lookout for. The Zoalord grumbled softly to himself under his breath. _Great, another one of Gyou's stupid clones._ Of course, even Mr. Dr. Balkus didn't quite know how the late Commander Gyou had ever managed to make even one human clone of himself, since his DNA had been that of a Zoalord. It was a mystery, but some of the other Zoalords were helping Mr. Dr. Balkus to solve it.

As the Chronos helicopter settled to the ground, the Zoalord's Hyper Zoanoid troops stood up. As the hatch opened, the Zoalord waited. One at a time, six of the seven Hyper Zoanoids exited the helicopter and formed themselves into two even rows on either side of the door.

"C'mon, boss. Let's go," the last of the Hyper Zoanoids said, offering a hand to the still-seated Zoalord.

He smiled, taking the hand that was offered to him; the Zoalord smiled back. Big brother Zektor might have told him not to get too close to these clones – he didn't quite know why, but he hadn't seemed to like them much – but they _were_ really nice to him.

Ordering the last of his Hyper Zoanoids to proceed him out of the exit hatch, the Zoalord made his way out of the helicopter. It was a pretty dark night, even with the lights that had been turned on for the benefit of the human who had chosen to meet them here. Naturally, the eyes of the Zoalord and those of the Hyper and Standard Zoanoids gathered on the rooftop with the man were adjusted perfectly to the darkness.

As the Zoalord stepped onto the boarding ramp and down the stairs, he saw that the human was striding forward to meet him. From what he'd heard about the man, he already didn't like him. But Mr. Dr. Balkus _really_ didn't like him

"I've made my reports," the man said, bobbing his head in what he evidently thought was a respectful gesture. "I hope you took the time to look them over."

"I have your reports." Well, actually, Mr. Caerleon had them, but he wasn't going to say _that_.

"Good," the human said, bobbing his head again. "Then you can-"

A Gravity Bullet swirled into existence just above the Zoalord's now-outstretched palm. Before Gyou's human clone could say another word, indeed before he could draw enough breath to turn and run, the Gravity Bullet hit him square in the chest. The powerful energies contained in even this, a low-power shot and one of the more common attacks that Zoalords were known to use, were enough to punch a hole straight through the midsection of Gyou's clone.

The bloody corpse-to-be crashed into the wall of the landing pad as the Zoalord descended the last step separating him from the roof of the Chronos L.A. building.

"I don't tolerate failure," he told the dying man, just the way Mr. Dr Balkus would have done if he were here. _Moron._

Turning away from Gyou's clone, the Zoalord signaled for his Hyper Zoanoid aides to follow him into the building. One of the red-haired Hyper Zoanoids turned back to look back at the still-breathing corpse behind them, but the Zoalord quickly signaled him to follow along with the rest of their group. The four Standard Zoanoids fell in behind the seven Hypers almost as a unit.

The Zoalord could hear the footfalls of his underlings right behind him as he made his way into the building. The stairs were better lit than the landing area, but there wasn't any real reason to waste money on fully lighting them when the only people using them were four Standard Zoanoids, seven Hyper Zoanoids, and a Zoalord.

As the group of twelve Zoaforms made their way down to the main area of the rebuilt Chronos' L.A. headquarters, the Zoalord clearly sensed the presence of his fellow Zoalord. The Sixth, Mr. Edward Caerleon was waiting in the office of the former head of Chronos L.A. By this time, all Chronos employees had heard about the fate of the former overseer for this particular branch.

They were nearly at Mr. Caerleon's new office by this time, and the Zoalord could feel that his fellow Zoalord expected him. When he reached the office, the Zoalord sent out a tendril of thought in greeting. When he received conformation and permission to enter, he did so without much hesitation. Dismissing the Zoanoids who had been following him up to this point, the Zoalord stepped into Caerleon's office.

Caerleon himself was currently standing and admiring the view of Los Angeles that the large, tinted bay windows gave him.

"Welcome to Chronos Los Angeles, Ingriam Mirabilis," Caerleon said warmly.

"Thank you for having me, Lord Caerleon," Ingriam said, bowing stiffly. _I really hope he still likes me,_ Ingriam tried not to project.

Caerleon's smile faltered for a moment, and Ingriam wondered just what he had said to offend the Sixth Zoalord.

"There is no need for such formality here, Ingriam. We are, after all, both Zoalords." Caerleon's warm smile was back in place.

For a moment, Ingriam was apprehensive, thinking of all the lessons that Mr. Dr. Balkus had taught him about showing the proper respect to his superiors. Until or unless they told him otherwise, any Overlord above him in rank was to be treated with the utmost courtesy and respect. However, Mr. Caerleon had just given him permission to address him with at least some familiarity. In the end, Ingriam decided that it was best to do what Mr. Caerleon had asked him to.

"As you say, Edward." Ingriam inclined his head respectfully. _Did I do that right? I really hope I did; I hope he's not mad at me._

"Thank you, Ingriam. So, what do you think of this place so far? And mind you, I want an honest opinion," Mr. Caerleon said.

Ingriam turned away slightly, considering his answer. "I think that the last person to run this operation was an idiot, even if he _was_ one of our own. Letting a Guyver infiltrate so easily and create Zoanoids that were so ineffectual against him—how could one of our own fail this badly?"

There, that was what Mr. Dr. Balkus would have wanted him to say.

"He was not truly one of ours, Ingriam," Mr. Caerleon said, waving the other Zoalord over to his desk. "Come. There is something that I would like to show you."

Ingriam hurried over to where Mr. Caerleon stood, coming to a stop beside and just behind his fellow Zoalord. The display on Mr. Caerleon's computer screen was showing a datafile for the man who had once been the overseer for this branch of Chronos. Right away, Ingriam noticed something off.

"A Hyper Zoanoid?" Ingriam wondered aloud. _That's… that's just really weird_.


	2. Strangers in the Night

"One of Gyou's projects," Mr. Caerleon said, practically spitting the name of the former Twelfth Zoalord. Ingriam could understand his dislike for the man: Gyou was a bastard. Dad had said so. And besides, even if dad hadn't said that, Gyou had tried to do bad things to Alkanphel. That made him someone Ingriam really didn't like. "Gyou actually thought that he could create a Hyper Zoanoid with the abilities of a Zoalord. A creature that would be able to command our Zoanoids while still being subservient to him."

There was a definite sneer in Mr. Caerleon's voice as he said that.

"With all due respect, Lord Caerleon, the principal itself seems sound," Ingriam said, softly and deferentially.

"Yes, I would tend to agree with you about that, at least, Ingriam," Mr. Caerleon said. "However, Gyou intended to use this one to weaken us from the inside."

"Um, how would he do that?" Ingriam asked. "This wasn't one of the important branches in our hierarchy. At least, I didn't think so."

"Yes, but it is close to our most important facility," Mr. Caerleon said. "And if Gyou had managed to raise an army of those creatures, there would have been a chance that he would be able to destabilize our organization."

"Yes, I guess you're right," Ingriam said, nodding.

"I am glad that I was able to teach you something then, young Ingriam."

Ingriam nodded, though he still wasn't quite sure what to make of Mr. Caerleon's overly friendly manner. He was far lower in the hierarchy than Lord Caerleon, so there wasn't any real reason to be so nice to him. Or that was what Mr. Dr. Balkus had taught him. Was it possible for someone who knew so much about Chronos as Mr. Dr. Balkus to have made a mistake? No, that just couldn't have been right.

Lord Caerleon was just acting differently than Ingriam had expected him to. That had to be it.

XxXxX

Sean didn't know exactly why he had stopped at the place—at a _karaoke bar_ of all places—but now that he was there he was actually starting to enjoy himself. Nobody had stepped up to the mic and tried to sing yet, and the food they served was in fact pretty good. Looking around at all of the people milling around inside the place, Sean leaned back and let himself relax.

It was kind of nice not to have to worry about being spotted and attacked by Zoanoids, though sometimes he wondered just where all of the new, stronger Zoanoids he'd been fighting against lately had come from. Atkins had set the Tech Division to finding out just what had been going on with Chronos lately. So far, though, he hadn't been briefed on any new developments.

When music started playing out of the speakers, Sean turned back to the previously unoccupied mic. There was a red-haired boy standing there now, just starting to sing. He had a good voice, Sean had to admit, and he wasn't mangling the song anywhere nearly as badly as someone else might. The song itself, though, hit just a little too close to home for Sean, especially the lines about "wishing I could be someone else, trying to find somehow to get away" and "hearing voices in my head".

Sean clapped halfheartedly when the red-haired boy left the stage, but as he turned back to the remains of his food, he had a sudden and completely inexplicable urge to follow the boy. Recognizing this compulsion as coming from his Guyver unit, Sean wondered just what the hell was going on. Why would his Guyver be calling him now, when all he was looking at was an ordinary kid? Sure, the red-haired boy had had kind of a nice singing voice, but it wasn't as if they had any kind of connection beyond that. _Or, maybe…_

His decision made, Sean stood up and left. The mysterious red-haired boy was still visible just down the sidewalk from him, and Sean walked more quickly to catch up. The boy heard him, unsurprisingly, since Sean hadn't even been trying to be silent.

"Hey!" Sean called, trying to get the get his attention.

"Yeah?" He turned around, and Sean noticed then that he had green eyes to go with his red hair. "What is it?"

"I heard you sing back there," Sean paused. "You were pretty good. But what was that song you were singing, anyway?"

"It's by Phil Collins. The song's actually called 'Love Police'. And before you ask me why it has such a dumb name, I'll tell you one thing: I've got no idea."

Sean chuckled, seeing the semi-earnest look on the red-haired boy's face. His airily self-mocking smirk kind of messed up the image, though.

"My name's Sean Barker."

"Mine's Ryan Crouger." He gave Sean a half-serious, half-mocking look. "And if you make any _Nightmare on Elm Street_ references, I _will_ be forced to hurt you."

Sean laughed. "Duly noted," he said, once he had managed to regain his composure.

"Well, see you," Ryan said, waving as he turned away and started to walk down the sidewalk again.

"Wait," Sean called, quickly grabbing Ryan's arm.

"What is it?" Ryan asked as he turned to look back at Sean.

"Do you feel like… maybe like you know me somehow?"

"No. Do you think I should?"

"Well, maybe not," Sean said, reconsidering the slight familiarity he'd felt in the face of Ryan's seeming indifference. "Did you sing that song for any particular reason?"

"Yeah, maybe," Ryan answered offhandedly. "Are you going to let go of me now, Sean?"

"What? Oh, sorry," Sean said, letting go of Ryan's arm and feeling somewhat chagrined.

"That's okay."

Sean watched as Ryan walked away, feeling almost as if he should be following him. Shaking his head, Sean turned and started heading back to the ACTF compound.

XxXxX

_)Were you getting some weird readings off that guy, kid? Or was that just me?(_

_)I was getting some, but I really hope that doesn't mean what I think it means,(_ Ryan sent. _)He seemed like a pretty nice guy.(_

_)I know,(_ Elegen sent morosely. _)But you said it yourself, kid: you can't save everyone.(_

_)And there's no help for Sleeper Units.(_

Ryan sighed aloud and wondered just when he would have to deal with Sean Barker. He'd often been the one to deal with Sleeper Units in the past, back in Japan, since he'd wanted to take at least some of the strain off of Sho. Whenever Ryan looked back on it, he found it weird that he'd somehow fallen into the role of overprotective big brother for a guy two years older than he who had the power to destroy entire city blocks, but that was the way things had gone.

Besides, with all that Sho had been put through by those bastards at Chronos, he needed someone who could take care of him in a fight. Mizuki, while a pretty great person in her own right, wasn't a Guyver and didn't really have any fighting skills. And Agito? Forget Agito. Tetsuro was good for when you needed someone or something analyzed, and he was a good friend besides all of that. But still, Sho needed all the help he could get to take on Chronos—help that only another Guyver who didn't have a bunch of plans to rule the world could give him.

That made Ryan even more uneasy about leaving Sho alone with that creep Agito. Okay, so he wasn't all alone with that devious little rat-bastard, but Ryan still wasn't entirely sure about his decision to go out and look for the source of the call he had been feeling lately. The last time he'd gotten these kinds of weird feelings, it had been from some moldy old Advent ship that had been setting a trap for him.

But this time it'd been different. This time Sho – and Agito, too, but Ryan made it a point not to think about him – had felt something. But Sho still had his own battles to fight in Japan, and Ryan wouldn't have trusted Agito not to try and turn this to his advantage somehow. The guy had all the scruples of a pit viper.


	3. Knowing Me, Knowing You

Absentmindedly brushing a lock of red hair back behind his ear, Ryan kept walking. It'd been a long time since he'd been back on his home turf. Ryan had to laugh at himself for that one, since Colorado Springs was his real home turf; L.A. was just a stopover. Still, it was nice to be back in the States, at least. Japan was nice, almost like a second home, if not for the constant threat of Zoanoid attacks and the pissed-off Zoalords who wanted to dissect him.

_)You know, you're getting kinda blasé about all of this, kid.(_

_)I've lived with this long enough that it seems normal, Snake-head,(_ Ryan sent. _)You know, just the facts of life. I'm not getting complacent or anything.(_

_)I hope not, kid. I've seen guys get themselves killed because they forgot that there were real dangers out there.(_ Elegen paused. _)Or, at least I think I have.(_

Ryan had lived, if it could really be called that, with Elegen for over half a year by now. He'd gotten used to the Hyper Zoanoid's occasional grousing, and Ryan liked to think that he'd learned something over all the time that he and Elegen had been together. They worked pretty well together, aside from the occasional personality conflict.

As Ryan moved through the city, he started to hear the sound of footsteps coming from somewhere behind him. The sense that he'd developed over time (a lot of it spent wondering if he was going crazy or not) allowed him to determine if the people following him weren't really people. At least, not in the strictest sense. These "people" definitely fit the bill.

Jumping forward, Ryan avoided a double axe handle that would have probably broken his back, and that would have definitely put him down for the count. Turning, he ducked out of the way of a straight-punch and grinned just as two of the seven attacking Zoanoids came barreling at him.

"Guyver!"

The blast of pure pressure that surrounded him as he called the Guyver ripped the attacking Zoanoid to bits, scattering them across the sidewalk.

Ryan grinned. "All right, you refugees from a demented sideshow, you want to play with the big boys? Then let's play!"

_)You're psychotic.(_

_)Thanks for that unsolicited opinion, Snake-head.(_

Extending the blades on his forearms, Ryan rushed the attacking Zoanoids. Only one of them was a model that Ryan recognized: Galma. The others were just strange, animal-looking things; one of them even looked like a goat. Ryan personally thought that they looked kind of pathetic. Spinning and ducking to avoid a swipe from the goat-guy, though what the hell he thought he though he was doing swiping when he didn't have any claws Ryan didn't know, Ryan struck out with his Vibration Blades. He wasn't going to take any chances with these Zoanoids, no matter _how_ goofy-looking they were.

XxXxX

Sean, managing to catch a ride back to the ACTF's temporary base of operations, strode with outward calm back to his quarters. He was still trying to figure out just what it was about Ryan Crouger that he'd been so drawn to. It wasn't like the guy was an old friend of his that he'd slipped out of contact with; hell, he didn't even _know _him. So that couldn't be it. Maybe the Guyver? No, that was even more ridiculous than anything else he might have thought up.

Crane had been the only other Guyver, and with him dead that meant that there weren't going to be any others. That thought made Sean feel slightly better about the situation with Chronos, since no other Zoanoids would be able to get their hands on one of the Units. Sean did think that it would have been nice to have some help, maybe from that guy that Atkins had talked about: Murakami.

From what Atkins said, Murakami hated Chronos just as much as all of the soldiers in the ACTF, even more than some of the newer recruits, since they didn't really know what Chronos was and what they were all about quite yet. The new recruits were carefully screened for any signs of genetic tampering, even before they were briefed about what they were being vetted for. Sean thought that was a good system: it would keep Zoanoids from finding out what they were really doing down in the "Combat Research Division".

That was the name that the ACTF had been operating under, which was their official name and the only one that anyone not briefed about their true purpose would know.

Sean thought it was kind of funny how all of the other people in the Army base where they were staying all resented being vetted for the ACTF. But then, once they knew just what it was that they were going to be doing all the while, they were suddenly all enthused to do their part. He guessed that it had a lot to do with the fact that they were doing important work for the whole of humanity. There was really nothing like knowing you personally were a part of the effort to save the human race. That was true for him, at least.

Still, no matter how he tried not to think about it, the feeling he'd gotten when Ryan Crouger had been facing him just wasn't going to let him forget it so easily. Deciding that if he didn't solve that little mystery he would go crazy thinking about it, Sean left his room and made his way out of the ACTF's temporary compound.

The place had been built when reports of Zoanoid activity in L.A. had reached the point where they weren't considered normal background activity anymore. That the reports had also included sightings of Zoanoid models that Sean knew were stronger and tougher than any other Zoanoid he'd ever faced before – up to and including those Guyver-killer Enzyme IIs – had made him even more eager to come to this place. This was L.A., his home; even if he hadn't been asked to accompany the troops at this base, he would have come anyway. He wasn't going to let some army of genetic mutants overrun _his_ home without a fight.

But for now, what Sean wanted to do was to go and find Ryan so he could find out just what it was that had passed between them when they'd first met. That meant that he'd have to get out of the base, and _that_ meant he'd have to tell the duty-guards where he was going. Preferably without making himself sound crazy in the process. Of course, the fact remained that he could just tell them he was going to go back into the city, omitting the part where he wanted to track down a guy he'd just met because of some inexplicable feeling of connection they'd shared.

One that had lasted for barely half a minute.

The more Sean thought about it, the crazier the whole idea seemed. Hell, Ryan probably hadn't felt anything, which was sure to make Sean sound even crazier when he confronted him. Which was yet another good reason for Sean _not _to try and track him down.

Which was why he was going to turn right around and go back to his room for some sleep. Really, he was.

He was going to turn and head back to his room before he made it past the R&D Division. Okay, now he was getting close to the Motor Pool. A lot closer to the Mess Hall than ACTF R&D, and closer to the exit than someone who was heading back to his room should really be. And Sean _was_ going to go back to his room. Really; he was.

When Sean passed the Mess Hall, still heading in the direction of the base's main exit, he sighed. _Okay, so I'm not going to my room to sleep until I forget this entire crazy idea. I'm going to track down Ryan Crouger and find out just why I felt like I should know him from somewhere. I really must be out of my mind._ But, crazy or not, Sean had to know what was the deal with the connection that he had felt to one Ryan Crouger.

Even if Ryan ended up thinking he was insane.

XxXxX

Crossing his wrists with both Vibration Blades fully extended in front of his face, Ryan drove forward. Jamming his blades into the neck of the last of the attacking Zoanoids, Ryan forced his arms apart. The two six-inch blades sliced through the Zoanoid's neck like soft putty, popping the creature's head off as its corpse fell to the ground at Ryan's feet.

_)And that's all she wrote. Nice work, kid.(_

_)Thanks. Now I've just got to find us some place to stay. Without any cash, I might add.(_

_)Don't you have some relatives around here?(_

_)In L.A.? Are you kidding me?(_

_)You told me some of your family moved to California, kid.(_

_)Yeah, but none of them wanted to live here.(_

As Ryan was taking out his cassette player—or, to be more precise, the headphones for his cassette player—he sneezed.

_)Looks like someone's talking about you, kid.(_

_)It's all this damn L.A. smog,(_ Ryan sent, rolling his eyes. _)Which, I might add, is the reason that none of my extended family wanted to move here.(_

_)Fair enough. But that still begs the question of just where we're going to stay while we're here. You have any ideas on that front, kid?(_

_)Not a one, Snake-head. But I'll figure something out.(_

_)Somehow, that really doesn't reassure me.(_


	4. One Of Us

Opting to ignore the voice of his "inner Zoanoid", Ryan started whistling along to the tune of his favorite song. Then, once the vocals had picked up again, Ryan started to sing along with them. He even started adding a few dance moves, until he was dancing his way down the sidewalk. Of course, contrary to what most people would have thought, Ryan was still paying a great deal of attention to his surroundings.

Every time he performed one of the large twirls, like he was doing at the moment, he would scan the surrounding area for threats. Even with his eyes half-closed and Billy Joel's "River of Dreams" pumping in his ears, he was able to get at least some idea of what was going on around him. He was also relying on his danger sense a fair amount. All in all, there was a pretty good chance that he would be able to spot something or someone before it got close enough to make trouble for him.

XxXxX

As Sean made his way through L.A., looking for Ryan so he could find out just what kind of person the other boy was, he heard someone singing. Singing really loudly; they had a pretty good voice, and Sean was starting to wonder just where he'd heard someone singing like that. He could almost swear he'd heard this person singing somewhere before.

Deciding to investigate, Sean turned toward the sound. The singer's voice was loud enough that Sean had a clear idea of just where he was, though he did seem to be moving. It took a few minutes for Sean to recognize the song: it wasn't one that he'd heard so many times before, but the lines from the chorus were repeated often enough that Sean felt he could take a guess at the name.

_Of course, there was that Phil Collins song that Ryan sang; the title of _that _one didn't have anything to do with the lyrics._ Still, there was something about this song that Sean felt he recognized from somewhere; maybe he'd heard it on the radio sometime. As he slowly caught up to whoever was singing, Sean became more and more sure that he recognized the singer's voice from somewhere.

As it turned out, the person singing was the very one Sean had been looking for in the first place.

"Ryan!" he called, as the boy in question practically danced past.

He actually _did_ dance past—pretty well, too. Mentally shaking himself, since he wasn't here to admire Ryan's footwork, Sean jogged after him. Ryan wasn't moving all that fast, in spite of the fact that his dance routine made pretty liberal use of large steps, so Sean caught up to him pretty quickly. After that, it was just a matter of getting the other boy's attention.

"Ryan!"

Ryan turned, his singing cutting off abruptly rather than trailing off the way it would have if he'd been able to finish his song. "Sean." He looked surprised. "Didn't think I'd be seeing you again. Why'd you follow me all the way out here?"

"I heard someone singing." He shrugged. "I wanted to find out who it was."

"I'm not _that_ bad, am I?" Ryan raised an eyebrow, smirking in gentle good-humor.

"No," Sean said, chuckling. "You were just kind of loud. Actually, you were really loud; I'm surprised no one else came out to yell at you."

"I wouldn't have heard them anyway," Ryan pointed out reasonably, still wearing that smirk.

"Yeah, I guess not," Sean said, chuckling himself.

Ryan may not have been the person he was looking for- without the signal from his Guyver he couldn't really tell - but he had to admit that the other boy had a good sense of humor. Still, there was nothing about him to suggest he was anything out of the ordinary, and that meant that Sean had better leave before Ryan started asking just why he'd been out here so late, looking like he was looking for someone. Maybe he'd have better luck trying to find Murakami.

"Well, nice meeting you," Sean said, already starting to walk away. "Maybe I'll see you around sometime."

"What's so urgent that you can't stay here for a little chat?" Ryan asked, his manner utterly casual.

"I have to go find someone," Sean said, already starting to walk away.

Ryan kept pace with him easily, Sean noticed. "So, why don't you let me help? I might know your guy."

"I don't think that's very likely," Sean said, resisting the urge to chuckle. The idea that someone like Ryan, who probably didn't even know the definition of the term "operational security", much less how to implement it, would know the person who seemed to make a point of blowing up as many Chronos bases as he could find was just funny.

"Hey, it may not be likely, but anything's possible."

Looking over at Ryan, who didn't seem like he was going to be dissuaded from following him no matter what Sean said to him, Sean shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"Who're you looking for, anyway?"

"Well…" Looking over at Ryan, who seemed to be taking all the strangeness that Sean had stirred up – little things, but still strange nonetheless – Sean decided to show a little candor. It would either freak Ryan out to the point where he would leave on his own, or it would give Sean at least some idea of Ryan's personality. "To tell you the truth, I started out looking for you."

"Liked my singing that much, did ya?" Ryan asked, turning that same smirk back on him.

"Um…" _How do I answer that without sounding like a jerk?_ "Well, yeah, but that's not really the reason I wanted to find you. I was wondering…"

"Yeah?" Ryan prompted, when the silence between them began to feel heavy.

"Well, did you feel anything – like, I don't know, this _sense_ – like you maybe knew me? Or at least like you were supposed to know me or something?"

"You felt all that when we first met?" Ryan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Look, I know how this sounds, okay?"

"Completely off the wall? Kooky? Like something out of an episode of _The Twilight Zone_, maybe?"

"Yeah, like that. Still, did you feel something?"

"Well, even as strange as that sounds, Sean, I have to admit that I felt _something._ Of course, it might have been that plate of onion rings I had earlier," Ryan said, chuckling as he turned to look out into the cityscape. "Still, if you're really who I'm looking for, then we have something in common."

"What do you mean by _that_?" Sean asked, confused by Ryan's cryptic words.

"You mean you heard that?" Ryan asked, turning a distinctly surprised look on him.

Sean, for his part, was starting to think Ryan might have been just a little bit slow. "Of course I heard that. You were talking."

"Sean," Ryan said, smirk widening, "I didn't really _say_ anything."

And Sean could still hear what Ryan was saying, in spite of the now very obvious fact that Ryan's lips weren't even moving, _and how the hell was he even doing that?!_

"Wha- how? What are you, Ryan?!"

_"I'm someone who's just found what he's been looking for, Sean," _Ryan said, speaking again in that strange non-voice of his.

"What do you mean? And how the hell are you doing that?!"

_"We call it the Guyver-link. It's how we all stay in contact with one another when we get separated or have to stay in different places."_

"Guyver… you mean you're- wait, what do you mean 'we'? There are more Guyvers out there?"

"Yeah; two. Well, that I've met, anyway. There could very well be more dormant Units out there, though."

"I hope not," Sean muttered, thinking back to Crane, the short-lived but destructive Guyver-Zoanoid. "Where are these other Guyvers that you've met?"

"They're in Japan. Probably why you haven't met them yourself, Sean."

"Yeah." He nodded; Japan wasn't really a place he'd ever planned to go.

When he was young, Sean had had some ideas about being some kind of a world traveler, maybe like Indiana Jones, but that had been before the Guyver had come into his life. Before he became the only person – _well, one of the only people_ – who had any kind of chance against Chronos' Zoanoids in a fight. Before Atkins and the ACTF had taken him in and made him their guardian.

"There are Chronos bases in Japan, too, I take it?"

"Right," Ryan nodded, as the two of them started walking.

"So, how did someone like you get mixed up with a pair of Japanese Guyvers? Was your family taking a vacation there?"

"Sean, you wouldn't believe me if I told you," Ryan said, chuckling softly at what sounded like a private joke.

"Why don't you try me?" Sean shot back. "I've heard a lot of strange things lately. Hell, I've _done_ a lot of strange things lately."

"All right, then, but don't say I didn't warn ya. It was back in late April that I found the thing; me and my class had just gone out to this plateau…"

Sean settled himself in for a good, long story as Ryan continued to speak. He'd probably have some questions for his fellow Guyver once he was done, but for now Sean was content to just listen. Ryan could tell stories with the best of them, that was for sure.


	5. Take a Chance on Me

The child-Zoalord seemed to be settling in well, though he was still a bit wary of doing anything that might distress or annoy Edward. It was kind that he would consider the feelings of a senior Zoalord in matters, but the child was far too timid to be an effective Overlord. Still, if the rumors he had heard from the scientists who had transferred from the Africa Section were true, then the boy was still prone to fits of childish temper.

Only his own Zoanoids were immune to his rages, which was as it should be. Humans could be easily replaced; even the scientists Chronos hired could be replaced with a minimum of difficulty if one knew where to look, so Edward was unworried about his own Zoanoid staff getting caught on the wrong end of their capricious Ninth Zoalord's temper.

As well, since the scientists who worked in this branch were uniformly dull-witted and pathetic – not having the slightest idea of how to show the proper deference to their betters – Edward would not have minded at all if every one of them were killed. He would have ordered the job done himself, but for now Edward Caerleon, Sixth Zoalord of Chronos, had other matters to attend to. This branch had been overrun with Lost Numbers, just as the reports Lord Imakarum had presented to the Council all those months ago had stated.

It was now the task of himself and Lord Ingriam to set this branch to rights. Of course, the task would be a great deal simpler if the boy-Zoalord had more confidence in his own decisions. Perhaps that could be worked on while he was here, though. The boy-Zoalord seemed to place a great deal of value on the opinions others held of him. Childish, yes, but that _was_ essentially what Lord Ingriam Mirabilis was: a child given the body of an adult Zoalord before he had been truly ready to receive such a thing. It was only natural that the child would continue to act in the manner he was accustomed.

Edward had to admit that Ingriam, as a child, was a great deal easier to predict and control than any of the other Zoalords. His motivations were simply the pursuit of his own comfort and the desire to please those people he had claimed as family. The boy had no desire for personal power and in fact for this reason could be considered the ideal type of Zoalord. One of them, at least.

It was because of this that Edward was going to find young Lord Ingriam and keep him by his side: this world was _not_ ideal, and the child had a few undesirable traits. Most of them related back to what he was—his short attention span and rather violent temper were the most prominent. Edward could not help thinking that the young one's temper would be much less troublesome if his father was still by his side; still, Lord Imakarum seemed to have his own issues with his son.

It was not Edward's place to interfere in a family affair such as that; the two Mirabilises would come to their own accord when they chose to. For now, Edward focused his own energies on keeping the younger Mirabilis from either exhausting himself in his efforts to prove himself to his father or losing his temper and slaughtering all of the scientists who worked in this place.

It was always best to learn all of what one could, even from the incompetent simpletons that had been stationed at this facility. That was what Edward also told himself when the urge to just exterminate these worthless insects and have done with it came over him.

XxXxX

They had been walking and talking – their conversation held over the link so there wasn't any risk of them being overheard – for an hour now; Sean had checked his watch when they had started out. He knew he was in for a good, long chewing-out once he was back inside the base, but he liked to think that he might be able to squeak by with a warning. After all, bringing another Guyver over to their side wasn't something that just anyone could claim to have done.

And Ryan had told him about the other Guyvers that he worked with, the ones in Japan who fought Chronos' monsters in that area of the world. Agito sounded like the kind of person Sean would have wanted to keep a Guyver _away_ from, but the fact that he already had one made that a moot point. From the way Ryan talked about Sho, though, Sean could feel a lot of sympathy for him. Neither of them had ever wanted anything to do with the Guyver when they had picked it up that first time, but then destiny wasn't really known for asking your opinion when it kicked you in the head.

That was how Sean had chosen to think about this whole Guyver-related fracas: destiny had conscripted them all to be heroes in this fight, the human race's champions to oppose Chronos. It had been Cori's idea; when he'd been caught brooding one too many times over why _he _had been the one to find what he had thought had been one of the only two Guyvers on Earth and why _he'd_ been the one who had to face all of this horror, Cori had told him to try to look at it another way.

Talking to her had always helped him get his head back on straight when the things that had happened to him – the things he had to do to survive now – came back to haunt him. And now he had someone else, someone who could really understand what it was that he went through each day and someone who could help the ACTF defend the city from Chronos' depredations.

It was still just a little overwhelming.

_+Yo, Sean! You still with me?+_

_+Oh, yeah. Sorry, Ryan, I was just thinking.+_

_+Care to share with the rest of the class?+_

_+I was just thinking about how you and Sho and I… we're all so much alike. You know?+_

_+I think you're a fair bit tougher than Sho, Sean.+_

_+I guess there is that part,+ _Sean conceded, nodding. _+Still, the way we both ended up fused with the Guyver in the first place. That's what I was talking about. I mean, in your case, you were just a little bit too curious for your own good.+_

_+Thanks so much for your vote of confidence.+_

_+I don't mean I'm not grateful to you for being that way, since you seem like you're good in a fight from all the stories you have,+ _Sean said, throwing an arm around Ryan's shoulders as they came within sight of the ACTF's L.A. compound.

_+You going to tell me why you seem so eager to get me inside some old warehouse? I mean, not that I have anything against old, dilapidated, severely architecturally-challenged warehouses – as long as they're not stuffed to the gills with Chronos goons, mind you – but what the hell are we doing here?+_

_+I want you to meet the people I've been working with,+ _Sean said, smiling at Ryan and gripping him more tightly about the shoulders for a moment. _+I'm sure that what you know about Chronos and their operations will be a lot of help to them.+_

_+All right then, who are these mysterious friends of yours, Sean?+_ Ryan asked, tilting his head slightly.

_+They're military. I don't think you'd have heard of them—they don't talk much to people in the rest of the armed forces, to say nothing of civilians. They call themselves the Anti Chronos Task Force. Or just the ACTF.+_

_+Those Army guys really love their acronyms, don't they,+ _Ryan said, chuckling low in his throat.

_+Like you wouldn't believe,+_ Sean said, grinning back.

He had really taken a shine to Ryan; his fellow Guyver was laid-back, easy to talk to, and had a good sense of humor. Sean was really looking forward to working with him, and Atkins would probably be more than happy to welcome another Guyver into their ranks, especially one who knew so much about Chronos' operations in Japan.

And he had fought some of the new, tougher types of Zoanoid that Chronos was starting to unleash in this part of the world. Those Enzyme IIs sounded _exactly_ like the white, buglike Zoanoids that had attacked him all those months ago. It seemed like Ryan had figured out the perfect way to beat them, though, which was good, since Chronos had started sending more of them into Utah.

That was why Atkins had decided to move their main Research and Development out into Nevada. They had shipped him and Atkins back out here, since, with all they had managed to learn about Chronos and its operations, this place seemed to be the weak link in their organization. Everything Ryan had been telling him only helped to reinforce that conclusion, and he was very grateful to know that Chronos hadn't managed to snow him the way they'd done to everyone else.

They had almost reached the main entrance of the compound, disguised as it was, and Sean was looking forward to showing Ryan around. Okay, if he was really honest with himself, he was also looking forward to showing Ryan off. It wasn't like any of the soldiers could claim to have discovered another allied Guyver.

And that was something that he had just done _twice over_, though whether or not Agito Makashima could be counted as an ally was still up for debate. Ryan didn't seem to like him much, so that was one strike against him right there. Still, Sean always preferred to meet people face to face before he made any judgements. Well, except when he was dealing with Zoanoids; then all bets were off.

But right now, Sean wasn't really devoting that much thought to Chronos and their army of genetically engineered freaks. He was thinking more about Ryan and what his reaction would be to joining the ACTF, at least in the same advisory and defensive capacity that Sean himself had. Ryan would probably end up being more of an advisor than a defender, though, given what he knew.


	6. No Easy Way Out

_)Well, he seems to be taking a real shine to you, kid. I just hope he doesn't find out about me.(_

_)You're lucky he has his arm around my shoulders; I don't think it'd be good if we got lost on the way to wherever it is he's leading us.(_

_)Yeah, I know. I guess I should shut up now.(_

_)I think that would be a good idea, Snake-head.(_

Subtly looking around once he had regained full, conscious control of his body, Ryan saw that he and Sean had reached a disguised door in what looked like the back half of the warehouse.

"Ryan, are you all right? You spaced out on me for about three minutes there."

"Sheesh, it was _that_ long?" Ryan muttered, just low enough that Sean wouldn't be able to understand what he was saying.

"What was that?" Sean asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing, Sean; just talking to myself."

"Oh. Why did you go and space out on me, then?"

"I was just thinking."

"Thinking about what?"'

"It's nice to meet up with another Guyver is all."

"Yeah," Sean said, slapping Ryan's right shoulder. "It really is."

They stood in front of the door, and Sean reached up to knock three times. Ryan stood back and waited. He didn't really know what to expect from here on in, but his curiosity was piqued now, and he certainly wasn't going to walk away before he found out just what was going on with Sean and this mystery group of his.

"Barker," Sean said, talking to someone that Ryan couldn't quite make out beyond the steel door.

There was only a small slit in the door, just enough to see someone's eyes. He could tell it was a white guy by the color of the skin around the brown eyes, and he could tell it was a _male_ guy by the sound of his voice when he said:

"Good to see you again, Barker. Who's that next to you, though? He's not registered, and he looks like a civilian."

"This is Ryan Crouger; we have a few things in common," Sean said, grinning at the soldier on the other side of the door.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Stepping closer to the door, holding himself like he was going to impart some great secret and grinning all the wider, Sean spoke in a low voice.

"He's a Guyver, too."

"Him?" The eyes turned to size Ryan up with a fair amount of skepticism. "Can you prove it?"

"I can," Sean said, nodding and then turning back to him. "Ryan? Could you turn around—"

"And take off my jacket?" Ryan cut in, finishing Sean's intended sentence. "Yeah."

Suiting actions to words, Ryan shucked his jacket and stood with his back to Sean.

_)I hope your compatriot there doesn't find out about the scarring, kid.(_

_)I really doubt that Sean's going to go looking that far down, Snake-head.(_

"Holy-" he heard the soldier mutter from behind him.

"Hey, Sean, could you try _not_ to strangle me with my own shirt? I really happen to like breathing, you know."

"Sorry, Ryan," his fellow Guyver said, chuckling. "I'm done showing you off now, though. You can put your jacket back on."

"Thanks," Ryan said, turning around as he did just that. "So, do we get to go in now?"

Sean was spared answering Ryan's question when the door swung inward to admit the two of them. Sean grinned again as they both walked into what Ryan now knew was a concealed ACTF base, and Ryan smirked to let his fellow Guyver know he'd gotten the humor, too.

"We're going to work on getting the kid security clearance like yours, Barker," the guy they'd first met said as the three of them made their way inside the base.

Even as Ryan was contemplating the still-open door, he heard the sound of it being slammed shut and locking into place. On top of that, when he turned to look back at it, there were thick bolts slamming themselves into place on top of the door.

_)Good to see they're taking their security here really seriously.(_

_)Not like they shouldn't be, kid. They're dealing with Chronos; I really doubt this base could repel an attack by Hyper Zoanoids.(_

_)I'm sure you're right about that, but I really don't think this is their main center of operations.(_

_)I should hope not.(_

Blinking, Ryan noticed that – fortunately for him – no one had noticed that he hadn't been paying much attention to his surroundings. That kind of inattentiveness couldn't last forever, though, so he and Elegen were going to have to be more careful about just where and when they held their little confabs. Sensing the Hyper Zoanoid's wordless agreement, Ryan continued on his way.

This was a pretty interesting place; it definitely seemed like these ACTF guys knew what they were doing. It was nice to know that there were other people who were willing and able to take on Chronos, though given how surprised Sean had seemed by what he'd been saying about Chronos and their Zoanoid forces, he just might need to educate Sean on just who and what they were really facing.

It'd be more of a hindrance to have a Guyver fighting with them when he didn't really understand their mutual enemies. Of course, the same could be said about those ACTF guys.

"Kid!"

"You talkin' to me?" Ryan asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked over at the soldier.

He wasn't the guy who had brought them in, and Ryan couldn't help but think that guy had gone back to what he'd been doing. It sounded like a pretty boring job, but then that was the Army for ya. At least according to his dad.

"Nice DeNiro impression. Now come on; you need to have your physical exam, kid," the new soldier, who looked a bit like Daniel Jackson, oddly enough, said. "You may be a Guyver, but we still need to have some kind of baseline measurements, just in case something happens to you."

"All right, then," Ryan said, falling into step behind the Daniel Jackson lookalike.

_)Kid-(_

_)Not now!(_

_)Ryan-(_

_)Hush!(_

Looking up, wanting to make sure that the soldier hadn't caught his moment of inattentiveness, Ryan was relieved to note that the soldier was still moving through the base on his way to what Ryan figured was the infirmary. He didn't want to deal with the consequences of being caught spacing out at odd and unpredictable moments, even _if_ those consequences turned out to be fairly innocuous.


	7. Say Hello Wave Goodbye

Mr. Caerleon had told him to go to his room and wait there until he was called out for something. Ingriam didn't really think that Mr. Caerleon was mad at him—he hadn't really _meant_ to squish that scientist's head; he'd just been really, really mad. The jerk had called him an idiot, when all he had really wanted to know was why all the Zoanoids in this place seemed to be weak and stupid.

They'd all been beaten by the Guyver – well, all except for the ones that Mr. Shin had sent from the Pillars of Heaven – so that meant they were weak. And none of them had managed to figure out a way to get back to Chronos and tell one of their bosses what had happened, so that meant that they were stupid. Only a big dummy wouldn't have been able to figure something like that out.

Mr. Dr. Balkus would have probably have said that Chronos was better off without him.

Mr. Caerleon had even said that himself, but then he'd sent Ingriam to his room, so he wasn't really sure what to think. It _was_ a really nice room that he'd been given, almost like his own room back in the Genesis Tower. It had a nice, bouncy bed and a TV and a comm. setup and everything.

Thinking of the Genesis Tower made Ingriam remember that Zektor and all the others were waiting for him there. Zektor had asked him to call when he'd gotten to the L.A. base, and here he was at the L.A. base and he hadn't even called yet! Zektor must be missing him a lot by now. Ingriam hurried over to the comm. at the far left side of the room and paused for a second or two to remember the code to be able to contact the Genesis Tower. Once he did, he sat down and dialed.

It was really just like a telephone— one that had pictures.

When he got through to the Genesis Tower, Ingriam didn't even have to ask to talk to Zektor; he was the first one who came on the screen when Ingriam called.

"Hi, Zektor!"

"Hey, kidlet, how've you been settling in?" Zektor asked, his voice sounding kind of crackly over the comm.

"I'm okay," Ingriam said, wondering if _his_ voice sounded crackly, too. "How have you guys been doing? Is anything going on back there?"

"Things are going really well. That Lost Number was put down with the other failures, so she'll be out of your hair when you get back," Zektor stopped talking, looking like he was worried about something. "By the way, how have those clones of ours been working out for you? They haven't given you any trouble, have they?"

"No, they're okay."

"You're not getting too close to them, are you?" Zektor asked, sounding worried again.

"Well, I _did_ fly over in the helicopter with them," Ingriam said, leaning forward and putting his hand on the screen. "Is that bad?"

"That wasn't what I meant," Zektor said, laughing softly. "I just wanted to make sure you're not getting too friendly with them. Remember, they were sent out there to be your bodyguards, and there are Guyvers – or at least _a_ Guyver – in the area. They could end up getting killed, you know?"

"I know," Ingriam said, nodding as Zektor put his fingers on the screen, too.

It wasn't really as good as holding his hand, but it was the closest he would be able to get without teleporting back to the Genesis Tower. And Mr. Caerleon had said that he wasn't supposed to do that.

"Anyway, how have you been doing overall, kidlet?"

"I'm fine; Mr. Caerleon has been really nice, but all of the scientists here are really stupid," Ingriam said, thinking of the man whose head he'd just squished.

"From the reports we were sent, it sounds like that's the case in the entire L.A. base," Zektor said, patting the screen before he took his hand away. "I wouldn't let it get you down, kidlet. You'll probably be back here before you know it."

"I hope so," Ingriam said, folding his hands in his lap. "Mr. Lord Caerleon's really nice, but I'm kinda bored here."

"Oh? Why's that?"

"Well, Mr. Lord Caerleon sent me to my room after I squished that doctor's head."

"Why'd you go and do something like _that_, kidlet?"

"He was being really dumb," Ingriam said, annoyed. "He called me an idiot after I asked why all of the Zoanoids in this base were so weak."

"Well, that _was_ dumb," Zektor said, laughing. "He should have known better than to insult a Zoalord. Especially one like you, kidlet. Oh, and just in case you wanted to know, that Lost Number that some of the docs made is somewhere down in the labs where she won't be in the way."

"Stupid Lost Numbers," Ingriam muttered.

"I hear you there, kidlet," Zektor said, chuckling. "Well, I've got to be going now. There are a lot of things that need to be looked after around here."

"Okay, Zektor," Ingriam said, waving to the screen as the Hyper Zoanoid who was more of a big brother to him than a subordinate signed off. "Bye!"

"I'll talk to you again soon, kidlet," he said, just before the screen went dark.

XxXxX

"So, what do you guys have in mind for me?" Ryan asked.

"Just your basic physical exam," Drake Shepherd, his current guide to All Things ACTF, said. "We're also going to have to ask you a few questions."

"What kinds of questions?"

"Just some basic things: age, birthplace, current place of residence. We're going to need to have some data on you, after all," Drake said, turning away as he kept walking.

_)All right, he's not looking this way; I really think you should rethink this whole "going along" idea, kid.(_

_)Why's that, Snake-head?(_

_)Because if these Army types start examining you, they're going to find out about the scars. That means they'd stand a good chance of finding out about me, and then what do you think they'd do with us?(_

_)Do you honestly think these guys would think to connect some scars on my back with you? I think you're giving them just a _leetle _too much credit. I've seen those things on my back; they look like your normal, everyday burn scars.(_

_)Well, if you're sure about that… I think he's about to turn around, kid.(_

Blinking as he regained full control over his body, Ryan watched as Drake turned and looked back at him.

"In here," he said, directing Ryan to go through a door into what looked like a fairly normal hospital room.

Elegen was getting a bit twitchy—just on the edge of I'm-going-to-start-launching-lightning-bolts, really. Ryan had to keep a pretty tight lid on his own emotions just to keep his "inner Zoanoid" from getting too hyped up.

"So I guess I just wait here, huh?" he said, sitting down on the medical bed and leaning back against the wall.

"That's it. I'll come to pick you up once the Doc's done checking on you," Drake said, nodding as he turned and left.

When Drake had been gone just long enough for him to start wondering when this illusive doctor was going to show up, Ryan saw the door to the left of him open up.

"Hey, Ryan. I just wanted to wish you luck with the Doc when he comes," Sean said. "I just hope he's not going to insist on those _internal_ examinations again," the older Guyver added, shuddering dramatically even though his grin was still firmly in place. "How have you been settling in so far?"

"Sean, I've been here for all of about twenty minutes by now," he said, giving his brunette counterpart a sidelong smile. "I don't think that's enough time to 'settle in' to anyplace."

"I guess you're right," Sean said, nodding and looking slightly chagrined. "Still, I was just making some small talk. Hell, _you're_ the first Guyver I've met who wasn't actively trying to kill me. That has to count for something, right?"

"I guess it does," Ryan muttered before the rest of what Sean had said registered in his mind. "Wait, you mean you've met other Guyvers?" _I didn't think Sho or His Almighty Bastardness even knew about this guy. Or maybe I'm just jumping to conclusions here._

"Only one," Sean said, his distaste obvious. "His name was Crane. He was a Zoanoid who managed to get his hands on a Guyver unit. Luckily it was damaged, or I don't know how I would have come out of that fight alive. But I still didn't know quite what to make of you when we first met. I'm glad you're on our side, though."

"So, you met another Guyver that turned out to be a Zoanoid," Ryan repeated, more to confirm Sean's story to himself than anything. "And you killed him, right? Or am I going to have to start worrying that some bio-boosted freak of genetic engineering is going to come after me now?"

"No, I killed him," Sean said, not sounding too proud of the fact, but not sounding all that broken up about it, either. "You don't have to worry about him. Still, I thought I was the last Guyver on Earth. It's kind of nice to be proven wrong about that, at least in this case."

_)I think the guy might be more surprised than he thinks when he meets our good buddy Agito.(_

"Ryan?" Sean asked, looking concerned and just a little bit confused. "Are you all right?"


	8. My Name Is

"I'm fine, Sean, I was just thinking. When do you think that doc's going to get here, anyway?" he asked, before Sean could think to ask him what he'd been thinking about.

"Dr. Greymalkin? He should be here—" The door opened again, this time to admit a tall, middle-aged man with close-cropped brown hair, who Ryan privately thought bore a startling resemblance to Mr. Fantastic. "Right about now, I guess."

"Dr. Greymalkin, I presume," Ryan said.

"A fan of the classics, I see," the doctor said, grinning slightly.

"No, that's just what people say when they see guys like you," he said, offering up his own grin in return. "Well, either that or 'the doctor is in'. But I didn't want to be _that_ cliché."

"I see," the doctor said as Sean guffawed in the background.

"Oh, just to let you know, if I see any rubber gloves being pulled out, I am _so_ going to scream and run."

"Have you been telling him horror stories about me, Sean?" Dr. Greymalkin asked, turning an exasperated look on the older Guyver standing by the door.

"No, just the truth. You really worked me over the last time you had me in your clutches; even _you_ have to admit that."

"Well, at the time it was necessary," the doctor said, and Ryan thought for a minute that he should have had a pair of schoolmarm-ish glasses to adjust. He just had that tone. "We didn't know what kind of effects the Guyver had on your physical structure, aside from the enhancements. And none of us knew how it or if it had affected you even when you were no longer wearing it. Now that we have a baseline measurement, there shouldn't be any need for further investigation."

"Oh, so I got the full-body work over so he didn't have to?" Sean asked, raising an eyebrow and grinning slightly.

"That's about what it amounts to," the doctor said. "Now, why don't you go on and eat something, or run a combat drill, or whatever it is you do when you're not annoying me?"

"Good luck with him, Ryan," Sean said, winking before he turned and made for the door. "I'll meet you in the cafeteria when you're done with Dr. Frankenstein there."

Laughing as his fellow Guyver made his way out of the room, Ryan turned his attention back to the doctor. "So, what's with your name, anyway? You sound like someone's British cat."

"Well," the doctor said, chuckling softly, "that's not the first time someone's questioned me about my name, but it _is_ the first time anyone's brought cats or the British into it. As for the name itself, I could ask _you_ the same question." He laughed outright. "You sound like _you_ belong somewhere on Elm Street."

The pillow that Ryan threw hit him right between the eyes, and he chuckled at the stunned-bunny expression on the doctor's face. Right until said doctor thwacked him over the head with that selfsame pillow.

"All right, enough horseplay," Dr. Greymalkin said, still smiling slightly as he set the pillow back on the medical bed. "You're looking like you want to start fidgeting, and I'm sure we both want to get some food in us before the next shift ends, so let's get this done. Open your mouth, stick out your tongue, and we'll get started."

XxXxX

Walking back to his room with a definite air of self-satisfaction, Sean was stopped by no less than five different ACTF soldiers when he explained there was a new Guyver on their side and ready to fight Chronos with them. They smiled and shook his hand, congratulating him for finding a new ally or just thanking him for continuing to help look out for them. It was a new experience for Sean. Most of the time—more than usual now with Chronos' new batch of Zoanoids on the loose—he'd been the one thanking _them_ for looking out for him. It wasn't that he was ungrateful for all they'd done for him – and Cori, especially – he just liked to be praised for a job well done. It felt good.

Once he was back in his room, though, he decided to take another crack at that Guyver-to-Guyver telepathy Ryan had taught him about.

_+Hey, Ryan?+_

_+What's up, Sean?+_

_+Nothing in particular. I just wanted to test out that telepathy thing you were telling me about. Looks like it worked.+_

_+Sounds like it, too.+ _Ryan's chuckle came clearly across the link, and Sean had to laugh at himself.

_+Yeah, I guess that one was kind of obvious.+_

_+So, what did you have in mind for us to talk about, if anything?+_

_+I didn't really have anything in mind,+_ Sean admitted, leaning back against the pillows he'd had propped against the wall since last night. He hadn't been getting much sleep lately, what with the attacks and all.

_+Atkins _said _Chronos was worldwide… tell me more about the others. Or the bases in Japan.+ _he said, trailing off as he paused to think.

If what Ryan was saying was true, and there was no reason for him to doubt a fellow Guyver, that meant both good things and bad things. The good was that he and Ryan _weren't_ the only Guyvers in existence; the bad was that Chronos was even more powerful and had infiltrated more parts of the world than any of them had known. Still, since Ryan had been fighting them in that part of the world, he would obviously have more firsthand knowledge of what Japan's Chronos was capable of.

_+Ryan, have you ever heard of a Zoanoid called Enzyme II?+_ he asked, remembering their conversation from earlier and wanting to make sure that what he had concluded was true. It was never good to make assumptions; doubly so in their line of work.

_+You've had some encounters with them, I take it?+_

_+Yeah. You have, too?+_

_+One of them took a bite out of my arm; damn near tore the whole thing off,+ _Ryan's distaste was obvious; Sean could more than sympathize. _+That was the first time. How many have you had to deal with so far?+_

_+I don't think it was more than ten,+_ he said, working a bit to recall. _+I'm sure I would have remembered if there had been that many. Do yours spit acid, too?+_

_+I hate it when they do that,+_ Ryan said, answering the question indirectly. _+One of my least favorite things about those bugly freaks. The other one's got to be those giant pincers they have sticking out of their backs. Remember those? On the leg-things?+_

_+Yes.+_ He blew out his breath in a long hiss, falling back onto his bed with a soft thump. _+Those things make me crazy. With the acid and the pincers you can't even get close enough to fight them, not to mention the fact that if you _do _manage, by some miracle or other to get close enough to stab, your blades dissolve in their blood.+_

Sean knew he'd sounded particularly bitter about that, but Ryan was a Guyver, so he'd be able to understand.

_+Well, at least you can still blow their heads off from long-range; that kills them as dead as anything.+_

_+Yeah.+_ Sean chuckled out loud. _+It might be _possible _to blow their heads off with that dinky little laser, but it'd take a long time.+_

_+Yeah, but who says I was talking about the Head Beam, Sean?+_

_+Is that what that thing's called?+ _he asked, never having any reason to think that the Guyver's weapons had ever had or needed names. _+Anyway, I don't think I'd want to try using that cannon-thing the Guyver's got hidden under its chest plates to take out just one Enzyme. Too much chance of hitting someone else by mistake, not to mention the thing takes so much time to charge.+_

_+I wouldn't want to waste Mega-Smasher shot on a single Enzyme II, either. It's useful to have when they swarm ya, but you're right about it being overkill for just one.+_

Putting aside Ryan's oddly evasive answers, Sean turned his focus back to Ryan's situation. _+So, how's the examination been going?+_

_+It's good. I haven't been probed, if that's what you mean; no rubber gloves, either.+_

_+I was wondering why there hadn't been any screaming or large explosions yet,+ _he said, chuckling. _+Has he done the tongue thing yet?+_

_+Yeah. And the ear thing, too.+_

_+Well, I think that means you're just about done,+_ he said, nodding with satisfaction. _+I'll come get you once Dr. Frankenstein finishes with you. Then how 'bout I take you down to the cafeteria and we have a bite to eat?+_

_+That would be nice.+_

_+I thought you'd like it,+_ he said, sliding down to lay more comfortably on his bed. _+Ryan?+_

_+Yeah?+_

_+It's nice to have you here.+_


	9. Heroes and Villains

Edward Caerleon had finished going over the progress reports, such as they were, for the Los Angeles facility. The Zoanoids that had been created – not even _designed_, but simply created from random humans who had not even been tested for compatibility with the process – were utterly pathetic. They were worthless, and this had been more than proven by their lack of progress in killing the Fourth Guyver.

The Anti Chronos Task Force was also still well, and by some reports they were still recruiting. It was clear that the only thing these primitive, rudimentarily produced Zoanoids would be good for would be cannon fodder. Of course, that was precisely what he intended to use them for. It would not do to let them know there had been such a drastic change in the management of this facility. Knowing there were actually competent overseers of this base would lead them to make plans for that, and one thing he was forced to admit about those humans was that they were resourceful. That they were working with the Fourth Guyver made them more dangerous than even the weapons that they had designed or the forces they commanded.

The sound of his door bursting open without even a knock to demonstrate the expected courtesy to a superior made Edward look up in supreme annoyance. Without even waiting to see what the insect who had dared to intrude on his contemplation wanted of him, he launched a bolt of fire at the figure in the doorway. The door and walls were made of steel, and there was no need to worry over damage to the floor. The carpet could and would be easily replaced, and even though the flames were now beyond the reach of his hands they would not be beyond the reach of his power.

He was not called the Firewielder without reason.

XxXxX

When she'd come into the new boss' office for the first time, Candi honestly hadn't known what to expect. The last guy to manage this place, one Mr. Fulton Balcus, had been an overbearing jerk—a petty, jumped-up little tyrant who liked to use his powers to torment his workers. Of course, the fact that this new guy had just _incinerated_ the first person to walk into his office didn't speak very well of _him_, either.

Johnson was rolling on the floor, the flames spreading as he tried in vain to put them out. Stepping away from the door, not wanting to end up on the bad side of whoever had just fried Johnson, Candi folded her arms in front of her and stood still.

"Enter."

Candi looked up in response to that soft, cultured male voice. The speaker sounded only a few years older than she was, but something about the tone seemed… really odd somehow. She wasn't going to risk pissing off someone who could fucking well _set her on fire_, though, so she hurried into the office. The office that had once belonged to Mr. Fulton Balcas, but clearly it belonged to someone else now.

Once inside, she caught her first glimpse of the man who had taken over Chronos, who was now sitting at Mr. Balcas' old desk. He was kind of cute (make that _really_ cute), but the fact that he had incinerated Johnson with apparently no more thought than someone else would give to eating a bag of potato chips gave her some very good reasons not to want to hang around him for too long. Cute or not, he was damn well _deadly_.

Folding her arms behind her back as the base's new overseer took her in with an almost offhanded glance, Candi tried not to fidget. Johnson's charred, cooling corpse was still lying on a slightly burned patch of carpet, and it drew her gaze no matter how studiously she tried to ignore it. Her new boss seemed not to care about it, but then he was the one who'd _put_ it there in the first place.

"It _is_ customary to introduce oneself when you are invited in to meet someone for the first time."

The slight narrowing of his eyes, combined with a change in the atmosphere of the room, let her know that this man – whoever else he was – was most likely their new Zoalord commander. It also let her know that he was annoyed.

"Candi Bergman, sir," she said, not wanting to end up on the floor dead like Johnson.

"Short for Candace?"

"No, sir," she said, shivering slightly at a glare from those liquid green eyes. "My parents just named me Candi."

"Interesting," he said, sounding like he was completely uninterested. "What type are you?"

"I'm sorry, sir?"

"I know that you are a Zoanoid; I can sense it. What type are you?"

"I- I'm not sure what you mean, sir. I mean… I'm just a basic Zoanoid, really."

When her new boss hissed softly, like a boiler or an angry cat, Candi thought that that was it. She was going to end up just like Johnson. Instead, the new guy muttered to himself, clearly incensed, but just as clearly unwilling to take it out on her. She thanked her lucky stars for that, even as her enhanced hearing allowed her to pick up on what he was saying.

"That stupid, lazy, incompetent fool Balcas. We're well rid of him."

His eyes came to rest on her again, and Candi tried not to look too interested. Or at all like she had been listening in on her new boss' one-sided conversation.

"Gather all of your compatriots in the main Proving Ground; I want to survey the forces here."

"Proving Ground, sir?" she asked, wondering if there was some room that she was unaware of, but that couldn't be true.

She knew this building like the back of her hand: it was part of her job. If there had been any huge room – and she knew the room had to be huge, since her new boss obviously expected all of the Zoanoids in the building to fit inside it – she would have known about it.

"Yes," he said, looking slightly annoyed but not sounding it. "The room where newly finalized Zoanoid models are sent to test the scope of their physical capabilities. There should be just enough space for all Zoanoids present at this facility to gather."

"I'm afraid I don't know of any rooms like that, sir."

He hissed again, this time looking slightly angrier than he had when he'd spoken about their old overseer. She really hoped his anger wasn't directed at her, since he seemed to _incinerate_ people who made him angry and all, but it didn't look like it. At the very least, she hadn't been set on fire yet.

"Where is the largest room in this facility, then?"

"Th-that would be the main cafeteria, sir."

"Is it fear or respect that compels you to speak to me that way?" he asked, his liquid green eyes fixing on her again.

"I really don't know what you mean, sir," she said, partly because it was the truth and partly because he was really starting to unnerve her.

"I suppose it would be fear, then."

She really couldn't think of any way to respond to that.

XxXxX

Sitting up in the top-floor office, working on the filing and looking over the reports that he'd have normally been helping the kidlet to get through, Zektor reflected on how the kidlet had looked – and sounded – the last time he'd made contact with his buddies back at the Genesis Tower. He'd seemed fine; a little overwhelmed by that he was doing, but that was about par for the course for someone like him.

There were times he still couldn't believe that the kidlet had somehow managed to convince him to let him go all the way to Los Angeles with those damned clones, though. Still, even he had to admit it was probably for the best. With a Guyver loose in the area, even if all the Zoanoids he'd faced up till now were pathetic saps _at best_, there was always a chance that that Guyver could get in a lucky shot.

Luck always had to be factored in when you were making plans, even if it _was_ damnably unpredictable. You had to take steps beforehand that would minimize the effects of _bad_ luck and take full advantage of the good stuff. That was why he hadn't objected too loudly to the kidlet's taking those damnable clones of theirs to the L.A. base. He relied on them, more than any of the other Zoanoids, and depended on them to help keep him steady and let him know when he was doing the right thing.

Now, if his dad hadn't been such a— but no. That way lay madness, and probably treason.

Settling back into his chair – he'd locked the kidlet's office while he was out and was going to keep the key on him until he got word that their Overlord was on his way back – he continued to shuffle through the papers he was dealing with.

"If you come bearing paperwork, I'm going to strangle you," he flatly informed the person unfortunate enough to come striding blithely in through his door while he was working intently at a particularly troublesome figure. He was really learning to hate budget allocation forms.

Of course, whenever he'd tried to teach the kidlet how to figure the things and fill them out, the kid had always ended up wanting to shred them into confetti. So _he_ wasn't the one who really had the biggest problem with the things.

"Now is _that_ any way to talk to an old friend?"

"Zancrus?" he asked, looking up. "What brings you up here?"

"The other guys sent me up to make sure you came down for lunch," the shorter, more lithe Hyper Zoanoid explained. "It came down to a choice between me and Elegen, and since _that_ guy is just as likely to start humping you as he is to invite— It's not _nice_ to throw paperweights at your poor, overworked little underlings, boss."

And this was what came of being friends with guys: merciless, good-natured ribbing. A woman would probably think his relationship was sweet or something, but since he had no real interest in women, that point was kind of a moot one.

"All right, I'll be right with ya. This paperwork is kicking my ass, anyway." He left his chair, took the projectile-paperweight out of Zancrus' hand, and put it back on his desk. "Besides, I could use the grub."

"I think that's what the rest of us feel, boss."

Grunting a monosyllable as his only response, Zektor followed his friend and teammate out of his office. He'd get back to all the damned paperwork when he wasn't so damned _hungry_.


	10. You Don’t Know Me at All

Ryan's meal, which Sean had watched him consume with a sense of vague amazement mixed with mild nausea, had consisted of two quarter pound steaks, an entire plate of corndogs, a bowl of strawberries about the size of his head, and three full pitchers of water to wash the entire mess down. Now the two of them were making their way back to their respective rooms; they were just a couple doors down from each other, so that was a welcome development.

"Where the heck do you _put_ it all, Ryan?"

"What'd you mean?"

"All that food you just ate—where do you find the room for it?"

"You know, sometimes I wonder about that myself," the red-haired Guyver said, laughing.

Sean laughed as well, wondering for a minute if Ryan was hiding something, but then he shrugged it off. If the guy wanted to try and bulk up – not something Sean thought he needed, since Ryan seemed to have a wiry muscularity about him already – it wasn't really any of his business. When they started nearing the corridor leading to their respective rooms, Sean paused as a thought came to him.

"Hey, Ryan?"

"What?"

"Are you tired?"

"Digesting, mostly. Why'd you ask?"

"I was thinking we could maybe run a patrol of the city," he said. "We could get to know each other a bit better, and I could give you a rundown of the situation here."

"It'd be nice to get your perspective on that," the other boy said. "We're heading out now, right?"

"That's the idea."

Slapping a companionable hand on the redhead's right shoulder, Sean turned him around and started back toward the cafeteria. That was closer to the main exit than their rooms, at least in this makeshift base they'd set up. It was more of an outpost than anything, but they'd needed to be closer to Chronos' center of operations if they were going to be able to do any real damage to the company.

The blood tests that they'd been doing on the soldiers prior to attempting to recruit them into the ACTF had shown that several of the soldiers had undergone Zoanoid processing. The markers were all there—easy to spot with the tests that Odagiri and their other scientists had developed. He personally didn't know very much about them, just that they worked and that there were certain telltale signs in the blood that would indicate whether someone was a Zoanoid or not.

"Are we heading back to the cafeteria?"

"Do you want to?" Sean asked, raising an eyebrow. He knew now that Ryan could pack it in with the best of them, but that would be ridiculous.

"No; I've had my fill for the night."

_That's a relief,_ Sean thought wryly. "We'll make it to the main concourse soon. From there it's just straight ahead to the main entrance."

"We're heading out the main entrance? Isn't that kinda dicey?"

"Don't worry," he said, glad to see that Ryan had at least some concern for security. "Everyone here knows us. Well, they know me, at least. I'm sure they'll find out about you soon. If we were at the main base we'd have to be more careful," Sean mused aloud, "but since we're all the way out here, the only people we really have to worry about are the Zoanoids and the scientists who work for Chronos."

"What about the Sleeper Units?"

"What's a Sleeper Unit?"

"You mean you don't know about them?"

"I'm asking, aren't I?" he said, slightly apprehensive about what Ryan's answer was going to be.

"Oookay," Ryan said, sounding shaky and slightly unnerved by the situation. "Sleeper Units – that's what Chronos calls 'em – are people who've been made into Zoanoids without knowing it."

"_What_?!"

How could Chronos – even as sick as they were – think of _doing_ that kind of thing?!

"Yeah; just when you think those scum suckers can't sink any lower."

He sounded like he was talking more to himself than anyone else, but Sean agreed with him implicitly. Anyone who could do that kind of thing to innocent bystanders deserved to be shot.

"So, aside from-"

"Crouger! Atkins wants to see you back in the infirmary!"

Sean turned as Ryan did, looking over his shoulder at David O'Neil. "What for?"

"He didn't tell me exactly what it was, Barker," O'Neil said tersely, "but I can tell you that he wants the kid back in the infirmary five minutes ago. He didn't sound happy while he was saying it, either," the man added, his warning obviously directed at Ryan.

Ryan's eyes glazed over for a few seconds, probably spacing out again, then he made a face. "Well, might as well get this over with."

With that, the three of them made their way back to the infirmary. Sean wondered just what Atkins could want with Ryan—O'Neil had made it clear that the Colonel was _angry_ rather than worried. Even as he walked Sean was wondering just what could have made him feel that way about _Ryan_.

Ryan was a Guyver, after all, someone who could do a lot of good for them in their battle against Chronos. He didn't know what would make Atkins _angry_ at someone who could give them that much of an edge in their future battles – and there were bound to be plenty of them – against Chronos. But now that they were all standing outside the infirmary, he was probably going to find out.

"Crouger," Atkins said, his voice carrying undertones of a snarl. "You think you want to tell me what this is?"

"It's an X-ray of my back," Ryan said, the lilt at the end of a sentence almost making it a tentative question.

"Real funny, wiseass," Atkins growled. "Take a closer look."

Sean watched as the younger Guyver strode calmly over to the screen and took a closer look. "All right, I'm stumped," he said, after making a big show of looking over the image on the screen. "Care to share with the rest of the class?"

"First off, Ryan, that isn't an X-ray," Dr. Greymalkin said, sidling up to the redhead and pointing at the image on the screen. "It's a map of your nerve endings." The man looked grave, and Sean wondered what was going on. "You have more nerves in your spine than I have ever seen on any human being in my entire career. Even Sean, with the alterations that the Guyver made to his body to accommodate itself, doesn't have as many nerves in his back as you do. I've also determined that some of them extend down the full length of both your arms and terminate at your fingertips; there are also others that extend down both your legs. There's also this." He pressed a button, and the image of Ryan's spinal cord switched to what was presumably his DNA. "Your genetic code shows clear signs of tampering," he said seriously.

Just then starting to realize the full implications of what Dr. Greymalkin had said, Sean turned to Ryan. The other Guyver was still looking at the image on the screen. He was pretty calm, and he looked confused enough that Sean might have been willing to believe he was as innocent in all this as he looked. But that… how the hell had he not noticed that there was another Guyver-Zoanoid?! And now… _he_ was the one who had brought Ryan into the base.

That meant that _he_ was going to have to be the one to deal with him.

"According to your DNA profile, you should look like _this_."

The image on the screen changed to something that Sean could only describe as a humanoid eel. It had the broad shoulders of a human, but the neck was longer than any human's had a right to be. Then there was the head, with its gaping mouth that looked like some ungodly cross between a catfish and a lamprey. The inhumanly round, yellow eyes, and the round pebble-like structures on the back of the neck didn't make him feel any better about bringing Ryan into the base, either.

He was just thankful that this was a temporary base.

None of the others in the room tried to stop him when he grabbed Ryan's collar – not even Ryan himself, though that could have just been because he knew he wasn't getting out of this base alive – but the Zoanoid had a weirdly calm expression on his face. It was as if nothing Sean could do would faze him. As if he didn't care if he lived or died.

And, combined with what they had been talking about just before Atkins had called them back to the infirmary… _How could I have been so stupid?! _Sean berated himself. Ryan must have been able to find out that he was one of Chronos' Sleeper Units, probably after he'd come into contact with the Guyver. He'd been trying to warn them all about what Chronos was doing to people, and Sean had been all but ready to kill him!


	11. How Forever Feels

There were times when he really understood why Michiko had left him… times when he was scared of how intense his hatred for Chronos had become. They _were_ evil, and they needed to be stopped, but sometimes he wondered… But that wasn't important right now. What mattered was getting Ryan settled.

XxXxX

He'd been expecting a Homer Simpson-esque strangling, or maybe just being yelled at until Sean blew off the full head of steam he'd so obviously worked up. He didn't quite know how Snake-head would have reacted to that. He hadn't been happy about Ryan's plan to just stand around and wait to see what Sean and his compatriots did – he'd had a few painful-sounding and most likely physically impossible suggestions about what Ryan could do with himself after he'd heard that.

Ryan could have honestly said that he hadn't been expecting the smile, or the hand on his shoulder.

_)You have the _weirdest _way with people, kid.(_

_)Coming from you, I think I'll take that as a complement, Snake-head. Besides, I could tell that we weren't in any _real _danger.(_

_)Sure you could.(_

Thus ended their little conversation, and Ryan noticed that Atkins and the doc were all nodding, as if Sean had just said something profound. He couldn't really guess at what they were all talking about, especially since Snake-head had been monopolizing his attention with his ranting.

_)I'll have you know I had perfectly valid reasons to be ranting, kid. As you've been so kind to point out on several occasions, if you die I can pretty much kiss _my _ass goodbye, too. And I'm not in the mood to die.(_

_)And you think _I _am?(_

_)I'm not going to dignify that with a response, kid.(_

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, more for the worry of what Sean would think of the action than any real desire to spare his "inner Zoanoid's" feelings, Ryan turned his attention back to the brunet Guyver.

"You okay there, Ryan? I know this might be hard on you, considering what you've gone through," Sean said, looking like he was talking to a terminal cancer patient or something. "But we _are_ going to need your help to fight. Do you think you're up to that?"

_)What?(_

_)You've got me,(_ Ryan sent.

"Not that I don't fully appreciate the show of sympathy, but what the hell are you guys going on about?"

"There's no shame in it," Sean said, probably thinking he was being understanding but only managing to confuse the ever-loving hell out of Ryan. "It could have happened to anyone, though I'm glad you at least managed to get away from Chronos."

"Okay, back up, Sean. What the hell are you even _talking_ about?"

"You're one of those Sleeper Units you were telling us about," Sean said. Then he obviously took a closer look at the expression on Ryan's face. "Aren't you?"

"I don't know- wait, scratch that. I _do_ know where you got that completely whacked-out idea," he said, laughing, "but I'm _definitely_ not what you think I am, pal."

"Then what are you?" Atkins asked, starting to look suspicious again.

"That's a long, involved, and really _weird_ story, soldier boy," he chuckled. "And it all starts something like this."

Knowing that he had the full attention of everyone in the room – even his "inner Zoanoid" had stopped commenting – Ryan settled himself in for a long talk. It was going to be interesting seeing how these guys would react to finding out what had really gone on with him (probably in the sense of that old Chinese curse), but at least things wouldn't be boring.

XxXxX

Once all of the Zoanoids – at least those pitiful genetic mistakes that had the audacity to call themselves Zoanoids – had been gathered together in the largest of this facility's rooms, Edward surveyed them with Ingriam by his side. It was time the boy learned to tell the difference between useful and useless breeds. The Alvix he had designed, while they were a _far_ greater asset to Chronos than any of these useless creatures, were still only basic stock.

A Zoalord should be capable of far more, but as Ingriam was still a child, Edward had learned not to expect so much of him at this point. Still, that did not mean that he was going to refrain from educating the boy. All children needed to grow up eventually, and in spite of the extraordinary circumstances that had led to this boy's state in life, he was no exception. Thus, it fell to him to educate the young Zoalord.

_-Look at them all, Ingriam,-_ he instructed, seeing the boy beginning to fidget. _-These creatures are called Lost Numbers. They are the lowliest, most worthless breed of Zoanoid that can be created.-_

_-That's what big-brother Zektor told me, too,- _the boy said, turning his attention to all of the Zoanoids that stood before the platform that had been set up for them.

It was not one of the observation-catwalks over the Proving Grounds, but it would have to suffice while they were stationed in this pathetic excuse for a Chronos facility.

_-Your subordinate has already informed you about the defects of these creatures?-_ he asked, surprised and yet pleased that a mere Hyper Zoanoid would have shown such initiative. _-What brought that on, child?-_

_-Zektor was telling me why that Samarubu thing had to stay down in the basement with the rest of the failures. He said that she was worthless and I should just forget about her.-_

_-Her?- _Edward demanded. _-Your scientists were foolish enough to create a Lost Number out of something so simple as a female Zoanoid?-_

_-Zektor said they'd done something really stupid when they made her. So I asked him what I should do with them, and he said I should kill them, so I did.-_

_-Yes. That was certainly a prudent course of action, child,- _Edward said, pausing for a moment to consider what else he would say to the boy.

Ingriam could indeed be a great asset to Chronos, but only if he was properly trained, and only if he lost his childish naïveté. Such things would take time, of course, but time was as nothing to a Zoalord.


	12. Somewhere I Belong

"So where're we headed?" Ryan asked, turning to look over at Sean.

The older boy hadn't really told him what they would be doing when he'd invited – a bit more forcefully than Ryan had been prepared for – him to come out and run a patrol of the city. Sean had been acting a bit more uptight, edgier, around him since he had explained to him, Atkins, and all the other guys in the infirmary just what he was and what had happened to make him that way. It wasn't like he could blame the guy for being nervous, since he'd been fighting Zoanoids – really pathetic Zoanoids, but Zoanoids nonetheless – for so long that the hatred he felt for them was probably an ingrained instinct by now.

It sucked, but that was probably the reason that Sean felt the way he did now.

"I told you: we're going out."

"Yeah, I know," he said. "You just never told me which way we were going to go once we _got_ out. Are we heading north? South? East? West? I haven't been here; I've got no relatives in this area, and I've never had the inclination to visit before. This place might as well be the dark side of the moon, for all I know."

"We're going to be patrolling the city," Sean said, acting as if he hadn't heard what Ryan had said, or else he didn't care. "Then we'll come back to the base. Dr. Greymalkin wants to run some more tests on you."

Rolling his eyes – this was _exactly_ what Sean had said the last two times he'd asked where they were going – Ryan started humming to himself. If he wasn't going to get any answers, he was at least going to entertain himself. Singing as he began to recall the lyrics, he kept pace just a bit behind Sean so he could do a shuffling sort of two-step dance while they made their way into the city.

They had taken one of the Jeeps to get to the outskirts of the city, but now he and Sean were on their own. He couldn't help but wonder, for all his efforts to distract himself with music, just what Sean had in mind. He knew his fellow Guyver hated Chronos and everything to do with them; it was obvious from the way he acted and everything he said, and Ryan just hoped that Sean wouldn't do anything drastic—anything that would force him to fight the other Guyver. He knew he could win: the Zoanoids Sean had been facing were a bunch of pansies, and the full brunt of Chronos' forces obviously hadn't fallen on him yet, but the fact remained that he didn't want to fight in the first place. Humanity in general needed all the fighters it could get on its side, and he didn't want to be the one to have to kill one of them.

"Is that the Red Hot Chili Peppers?" Sean asked, turning curiously to look at him.

"Yeah," he said, pausing in mid-step as he sang the last lyric. "I think it's one of their new songs. I don't know what it's called, but it's got nice lyrics and a good beat."

"Yeah," Sean said. "Do you always sing like that?"

"Only when I don't have anyone to talk to," he said, folding his arms behind his head and stretching a bit while he walked. "And since you don't seem to be in the mood to talk right now, I figured I'd just find a way to entertain myself."

"All right, then," Sean said, looking a little dubious but turning around and walking all the same.

Smiling slightly, Ryan started to sing another song. He'd learned it for two semi-related reasons: because he liked it, and because singing it seemed to drive Agito crazier than most things he could do.

"Are you singing in _Japanese_?" Sean asked, turning to shoot him a pretty good what-the-hell-are-you-doing look.

"I was a few seconds ago," he said, grinning back.

"Okay, _why_ were you singing in Japanese?"

"Because the theme song for Choriki Sentai Ohranger _is_ in Japanese."

Sean looked like he wanted to respond to that somehow, but he couldn't quite figure out anything to say to something like that. "If you're going to keep singing, could you at least sing something in _English_?"

"Whatever you say, Sean," he said, grinning at the older boy.

He started to whistle the opening of his next song. The fact that the song really began with a piano didn't mean so much here; he didn't have a piano. Whistling the rest of the opening, he started to sing.

"Was that Billy Joel?"

"Yeah," he grinned. "'The Stranger'; I thought it was appropriate."

"Why?" Sean asked, looking confused.

"Well, you seem to have some problems with me, and I needed to blow off a bit of steam, so I figured that song would do the trick."

"Ryan, it's not you I have a problem with," Sean muttered, probably not meaning for him to overhear.

Naturally, he did. "Well, I guess it's kind of obvious who you _do_ have a problem with. Still, d'you think you could make at least _some_ effort to get along with him? I mean, when you rile him up, _I'm_ the one who ends up having to deal with him."

_)That's real nice, kid.(_

_)Yeah. And you know what else? It's true.(_

"Ryan?"

"Something on your mind, Sean?"

"Well, I was wondering, if you know 'The Stranger' well enough to sing it from memory like that, do you think you could sing 'River of Dreams'?"

"Considering it's one of my favorites, I think I could manage it," he chuckled.

Swaying to music that only he could hear, Ryan started to sing one of his favorite songs, one he'd enjoyed since he had first heard it. For just a second, as he was working up to the first verse, Ryan thought that he might have sensed something moving around—something that he would have preferred _not _to meet face-to-face—but right now he was just going to enjoy himself for a bit.

Even if these _were_ Zoanoids tailing him, he could deal with them. He and Sean _were_ both Guyvers, after all.

XxXxX

When they'd been sent out, acting on the orders of the new Zoalord overseer of the L.A. branch – some prettyboy named Edward Caerleon – to hunt down the new Guyver that had dared set foot in their territory, he'd been happy to get it. It was a chance to prove himself to this new guy; Caerleon hadn't seemed to think much of the Zoanoids in L.A., and Hunter couldn't help thinking of this as his chance to get one up on the guy.

Seeing the two Guyvers walking side-by-side, with the red-haired one singing at the top of his lungs and not paying a damned bit of attention to his surroundings, Hunter grinned. This was just too perfect to believe.

"So, are we going to be moving in now, boss?" one of his smaller subordinates asked.

"Not yet, Krister," he said, grinning at the two little Guyvers as they continued on their merry way. "Let's just wait a little bit longer."

"Why? Because you like this song so much you don't want to interrupt the kid while he's singing it?"

"That's exactly right, Krister," he sneered, getting in the younger Zoanoid's face. "Do you have some kind of a problem with that?"

"S'cool, bro," Boomer drawled in his laconic way, stepping between them before he could punch Krister in the face for disagreeing with him. "You just want to hear some nice tunes; I can get behind that."

Hunter nodded, pleased with both Boomer's loyalty and the way Krister shut right up and fell back into line. He was the leader here; for fuck's sake, even that prettyboy Caerleon had acknowledged him as such, albeit by the most oblique of terms. That made it even more annoying that Krister had tried to question his authority. If even a Zoalord – though how in the hell _that_ prettyboy had ever become a Zoalord was something Hunter doubted he'd ever understand – was willing to acknowledge his authority as leader, then his underlings had better damn well shut up about it.

Turning his attention back to the Guyvers – the redhead had a nice voice; it'd be interesting to hear what it sounded like when he was screaming for mercy – Hunter signaled the others in his group to keep pace with the kids. He was pleased to note that even Krister went along quietly. That meant he wouldn't have to beat some respect into the little jerk when they got back to the base.

Hunter signaled his troops to move in and grinned; this was going to be some fun. He'd never really known why everyone else seemed to be so damn terrified of the Guyvers: neither of them seemed particularly threatening from this angle. Then again, maybe the guys in the other branches were just a bunch of wusses.

Hell, Caerleon looked like a strong breeze would knock him over. _Or at least mess up all that hair of his, which would probably piss him off. _He didn't know why anyone would let their hair grow out _that_ damn far, but even that other Zoalord – the one with black hair and sunglasses – had long hair. Of course, _he_ at least had the sense to put his hair up in a ponytail. It gave him kind of a boyish look, especially the way he wore it, but at least it wouldn't get all swirly and overly dramatic in a high wind. Even the man's bangs, long and floppy as they were, probably wouldn't cause him as much trouble as that unbound _hairpile_ Caerleon was sporting.

Turning his attention back to the two Guyvers heading for some destination that he and his would make sure they never reached, Hunter noticed that the redhead was just starting to wind up. The brunet next to him had even started singing along, backing him up as he belted out the last strains of the song. Before either of them could think up anything new to sing, Hunter signaled his troops to attack.

Neither of the Guyvers had been keeping an eye on their surroundings, so Hunter was doubly surprised when they both transformed and the redhead – now a Guyver with gray armor and pale red tissue underneath – turned and fired some kind of weird half-invisible blast that tore Karlo right in half.

That wasn't how things were supposed to go. _He_ was supposed to beat the Guyvers, and the others were supposed to help him. Instead, he was watching the blue Guyver beat up half of his team with martial arts, and when he turned his head he saw the gray Guyver _killing_ his teammates with less thought than someone might give to eating an apple. The gray Guyver was the more dangerous, since any schlep could beat down a martial artist with enough numbers.

A _killer_… well, that was something entirely different.

Transforming into his own Zoanoid form, having hung back to get a bead on these Guyver kids, Hunter rushed into the fray to deal with the gray Guyver. The kid whipped around much faster than he'd been expecting, extended the wrist-blades that he hadn't even suspected the kid had in the first place, and sliced him in half at the waist, all in the time it had taken him to blink three times.

The last thing he saw was the sole of the gray Guyver's foot as it sped down toward his head…


	13. What Will Become

Finishing with the Zoanoid that had tried to rush him, Ryan turned his attention to the rest of his opponents, only to find that they had all died. So there were just the ones fighting Sean that he had to worry about. Speaking of Sean…

_+You showing off for someone?+ _he asked, smirking inwardly as he watched Sean beating up the Zoanoids around him with a combination of martial arts and street-fighting.

_+What do you mean, Ryan?+_

Deciding to give Sean some help, since he wasn't doing very well, Ryan turned and fired his Head Beam into the skull of one of the attacking Zoanoids. Rushing the pile-up, he grabbed the head of the next closest Zoanoid and tore it in half. _+I mean, you're obviously trying to impress someone with all of these fancy combat moves you're busting out… You're not hitting on _me_, are you?+_

_+What? No!+ _Sean yelped, starting to laugh even as he ducked a swipe from one of the Zoanoids assaulting him, then smashed a powerful uppercut into its chin. _+Where the hell did you get _that _weird idea?+_

_+Well, there's no real reason for you to keep wasting your time playing with these guys unless you're trying to impress someone, and since I don't think you're trying to pick up any of the Zoanoids… You're _not _are you?+_

_+Oh _hell _no!+_

_+Well, that's good,+_ he said, laughing as he decapitated one of the other Zoanoids that were trying to attack Sean.

Firing three times into the head of the nearby Zoanoid that was trying to attack him, he turned to see Sean engaged in another fight with yet another Zoanoid. Sighing with the sheer idiotic humor of the situation, he chuckled softly. _+And there you go doing it again, Sean. What's with you and doing that all the time?+_

Sean, grappling with another of the Zoanoids – one of the only two that Ryan hadn't killed – turned to look at him. The thing Sean's eyes seemed to linger on the most were his hands; considering what he'd just done, they had to have a lot of blood on them, and that was probably what was freaking him out so badly.

_+Ryan… what have you been doing?+_

_+What I always do when I end up dealing with Zoanoids: I busted their puny little heads in. What have _you _been doing?+_

Before Sean could think of anything else to say – something that Ryan was a bit curious about, honestly – Ryan's hyper-sensors alerted him to the approach of another type of Zoanoid. The huge blob of acid that was fired at him _also_ alerted him to the fact that there were another group of Zoanoids after them. _Please tell me that there isn't a group of Enzyme IIs over there,_ he thought as he turned to face the Zoanoids.

The one Sean had been fighting tried to rush his fellow Guyver, so Ryan blew his head off. He also took care of the other half-dead Zoanoid Sean had been grappling with earlier. Then he turned to look at the new group of Zoanoids that had just showed up.

XxXxX

"Damn," Ryan said, as another one of the Chronos agents transformed into a huge, ugly, red-armored thing Sean had never seen in all the time he had been a Guyver.

"What the hell are _those_?!" Sean demanded, realizing then that he couldn't recognize _any_ of the Zoanoids he was facing now.

"Imports," Ryan said grimly. "Fresh from Chronos Japan."

The lead Zoanoid – or what Sean took to be the leader – the red one on the right, turned and growled at Ryan.

"Hey, Zerabubuse!" Ryan taunted. "Glad you could make it to the party! It's been, what—four, maybe five weeks since I last killed one of your kind?"

"I'm going to make you regret that bravado, Guyver V!" the leader – Zerabubuse – growled, jabbing one of his thick, clawed "fingers" at Ryan.

"It's not bravado when it's true, crab-face!"

Ryan rushed the Zoanoid, and Sean took a shocked half-step backwards when he realized that the thing could fire streams of acid out of its _head_. Luckily, Ryan seemed to know how to deal with it, diving around the stream of acid that Zerabubuse fired from the hornlike projections that stuck out from both sides of his head. Ryan leaped into the air, the height of the jump suggesting that he had used the Gravity Controller.

"Pressure Cannon!"

Zerabubuse, since he was obviously too big and heavy to move very quickly, took the blast from Ryan's Pressure Cannon – whatever _that_ was – right in the face. Screaming as all of his "horns" were seared clean off, the monster Zoanoid was completely unprepared for Ryan to rush him, wrist-blades fully extended, and stab him deeply in the face. The huge, armored hulk fell dead to the ground, but that still left six other monster Zoanoids for them to deal with, and Sean had the feeling that they were all just as tough as that one. Especially since one of them was the exact same type as the one Ryan had just killed, and the rest of them looked too huge to be dealt with easily.

_+Ryan, what are those? I know you said they were imports, but they don't look like any kind of Zoanoid I've ever seen before.+_

_+These are Hyper Zoanoids, Sean, some of the most dangerous types that Chronos has in their army.+_

Hyper _Zoanoids?+_

_+Yeah.+_

XxXxX

Ryan could see Zektor and the rest of the Hyper Zoanoid Team Five, along with the sole remaining Zerabubuse, standing in front of him and just waiting to attack.

_)Are you sure you're going to be okay doing this? You might end up killing yourself,(_ Ryan sent slyly.

_)You know, you're not nearly as funny as you think you are, kid,(_ the Hyper Zoanoid shot back.

However, the other Elegen wasn't the one to rush forward to attack. Zektor and Zancrus double-teamed him instead. Zancrus, who had a clear advantage when it came to speed and maneuverability, was well matched with Zektor, whose kinetic armor would allow him to resist far more punishment. It was just that sort of armor that had allowed another Hyper Zoanoid of that type – the one who had defended the Japan Section main base before these two clones had been released – to resist two shots from Guyver III's Pressure Cannon.

It had only been a third shot that had allowed Agito Makashima to claim victory in their battle.

XxXxX

Ducking a punch and rolling out of the way of a kick, Sean was very unpleasantly surprised to discover that his opponent could breathe fire.

_+What the hell _is _this thing?!+ _Sean demanded, starting to feel the knife-edge of fear as the huge Hyper Zoanoid continued to push him back.

_+You're going to have to be just a _little _bit more specific about that, you know?+_

Turning to look for Ryan and evading blasts of fire, claws, and heavy kicks as he did, Sean saw that Ryan was on top of one of the smaller Hyper Zoanoids. With his legs wrapped around the upper parts of the Hyper Zoanoid's arms, probably to keep it from stabbing him with those giant _sword-hands_ it had, Ryan rode it like a bucking bronco. The fact that he had managed to grab hold of both sets of antennae that stuck out of the sides of the Hyper Zoanoid's head and was using them like reins only served to emphasize the comparison.

But the other Hyper Zoanoid, the one that looked like some kind of giant black beetle, was moving in to reinforce its compatriot. That, unfortunately, was all Sean managed to see of their battle, since the Hyper Zoanoid he was fighting chose that moment to launch a withering barrage of flames at him.

_+Wow,+_ he heard Ryan say, sounding so much calmer than he felt at the moment. _+You're actually fighting _Darzerb_?+_

That's _what this thing is called?!+ _he demanded, just as Darzerb tried to brain him with his right and left fists.

_+Yeah. I have to say I'm impressed, you managing to take on Darzerb solo like that.+_

_+Uh, thanks,+_ he said. Rolling out of the way of Darzerb's stomp, Sean threw himself out of the way of a huge blast of fire. _+But I wouldn't exactly put it that way.+_

_+Don't worry, Sean; I'll give you a hand.+_

For a moment, he wondered just how Ryan was going to get over to him without letting go of the Hyper Zoanoid he was currently restraining, but then Sean saw him lash the thing with its own antennae. The Hyper Zoanoid took a very reluctant step forward after that.


	14. Wonder Boy

"I'm going to slice out your guts and _dance _on them, you little bastard!" Zancrus shouted.

"Sure you are. Tell me that again when you actually have an arm free," he laughed. "In the meantime, get moving, bug-boy!"

Squeezing his legs tighter in the closest approximation he could get to a kick without actually loosening his grip on Zancrus' arms, he lashed the Hyper Zoanoid again. Grumbling obscenities at the Guyvers in general and Ryan in particular, Zancrus stepped forward again. Now that he had a clearer shot at Darzerb, Ryan charged the Head Beam and fired, directly into Darzerb's right eye.

Naturally, Zancrus wasn't about to let such a vicious assault on one of his teammates go unpunished. When he started thrashing about like a thing possessed, Ryan decided that discretion was the better part of not getting smashed under a falling Hyper Zoanoid. Backflipping off of the greenish-white Hyper Zoanoid, Ryan landed on his feet and quickly rebalanced himself.

"I'm going to kill you, you little shit!" Zancrus screamed, enraged almost beyond reason.

"Not if I kill you first, you oversized insect!" Ryan shouted, firing the fully charged Pressure Cannon as he and Zancrus charged at one another.

The force of the Pressure Cannon tore Zancrus' head off entirely. Zektor, who had gone over to help Darzerb eliminate Guyver IV, heard Zancrus' dying scream. Leaving Darzerb to deal with the Fourth Guyver, since it was painfully obvious that boy was barely able to hold his own against even a _single_ Hyper Zoanoid, Zektor turned his attention back to Guyver V.

"How dare you kill Zancrus! I'll rip you apart!"

"Oh, shit," Ryan muttered.

Leaping out of the way of a double-blast from Zektor's arm-lasers, he saw the covers of the lasers on the huge Hyper Zoanoid's upper thighs snap open. Doing a quick tuck-and-roll to evade the beams as they passed over his head close enough to scorch the tip of his fin, Ryan decided that enough was enough.

_)All right, that's it. What's say we bring out the big guns?(_

_)You're going to have a hell of a time charging the Mega-Smasher without my erstwhile teammate noticing, you know,(_ Elegen sent, trying to be practical.

_)Believe me, I know that. That's why I hope these guys aren't receiving any orders right now.(_

_)Why's what?(_

_)Because I need your help for this next part.(_

_)I thought it might be something like that.(_

_)All right, you ready?(_

_)Yeah.(_

Even as they'd been having this internal exchange, Ryan had been dealing with the near-constant attacks that Zektor had been launching at him. Feeling a slight tingle at both the base of his neck and in the three pairs of scars on his back, Ryan had to suppress the urge to throw his head back in ecstasy as the feeling spread and intensified. It was almost orgasmic, he'd found, when he shared control with Elegen, the feeling that every cell in his body was being flooded with energy.

But that would have given the whole game away.

The only sign that anyone who wasn't a Zoalord would have had of Elegen's presence in this battle was completely absent in Guyver form: his eyes would have changed color to a startling, electric yellow-green. Jumping backwards to dodge a shot from Zektor's head laser, Ryan held his hands out in front of his chest, palms facing one another. Then he fired two shots from the Head Beam directly into Zektor's eyes, to distract the Hyper Zoanoid's attention from what was about to happen.

_)So, you need a distraction to distract him from a distraction,(_ Elegen gave the impression of laughing. _)Does any of this strike you as just _slightly _weird?(_

_)Oh, you shut up.(_

Electricity began to crackle and spark between Ryan's hands, heralding the activation of a weapon that he and Elegen had both taken to calling the Thunder Pressure Cannon. No sooner had Zektor managed to clear the last of the pain-induced haze from his eyes than the blast from the Thunder Pressure Cannon his him square in the face. As Zektor staggered, clutching at his head, Ryan grabbed the chestplates of his armor and tore them open to reveal the bulbous, gelatinous lenses underneath.

Charging up the Mega-Smasher, he was profoundly glad of the fact that Zektor was too distracted by sheer, blinding agony to notice the glow from the Mega-Smasher lenses. But Zektor recovered from the blast much sooner than Ryan had been expecting, so maybe it had been less blinding agony and more surprise and annoyance. Zektor paused for a moment, staring dumbly at the open Mega-Smasher and the light gathering inside the lenses.

Then he quickly extended his wings.

Light and heat began to gather around those selfsame wings, causing the air to shimmer in its wake. The vanes of his wings began to glow with increasing brightness as the energy being gathered was transferred into the huge bio-laser in the center of his body. For a brief time, it became a race to see just who would be able to fully charge their ultimate weapon first. The fact that it was a cold night tipped the odds a bit in Ryan's favor, but Darzerb's almost constant fire blasts provided Zektor with a boost that went some way to evening the odds.

It could, in fact, go either way.

XxXxX

Gaster, Elegen, and the sole remaining Zerabubuse had been given orders by His Excellency Lord Caerleon – orders that had been approved by His Excellency Lord Mirabilis – not to engage in battle with Guyver IV until or unless it became clear that Darzerb alone wouldn't be able to handle him. So far, that didn't seem to be the case at all. In fact, if it hadn't been for the help of Guyver V, all three of the Hyper Zoanoids were sure that the Fourth Guyver's Control Medal would already be in the possession of the rebuilt Chronos L.A.

But the orders of the two Zoalords had been very precise: this battle was solely to determine the full strength of the Fourth Guyver. That meant that at least one of them would have to survive to be able to make a full report on this new situation. Even for two Zoalords, the task of completely repairing and updating the processing facilities of the Chronos L.A. branch was a daunting one.

Both Team Five and the two Zerabubuses who had shipped out with them had had a good laugh when they had heard about what had happened to the original overseer for Chronos L.A. Apparently, he had been one of the late Commander Gyou's sideline projects. The man had been an Omega-class Hyper Zoanoid, and finding out the name of Gyou's little project had just been the icing on the proverbial cake. Gyou had renamed the man Fulton Balcas, no doubt aware of the fact that _Dr. Balkus_ would have thrown fits in several different colors once he had found out about _that_ little factoid.

When the three of them heard Zektor's screams as the Mega-Smasher tore him apart, all of them knew they would have to change tactics if they wanted to accomplish their mission.

_I hate being expendable, _Gaster grumbled mentally. "Elegen, go! We'll cover for you!"

With not even a nod of confirmation, Elegen turned and ran. Gaster and Zerabubuse, meanwhile, turned to confront Guyver V. Firing a barrage of missiles, Gaster watched in supreme satisfaction as the gray Guyver's left arm was blown off at the shoulder. The arm itself would end up growing back, of course, but it was still nice to be able to cause the little bastard some small measure of the pain that he had given to all of the Zoanoids he'd killed.

Or that was Gaster's opinion, at least.

XxXxX

The pain from his arm being blown off would have probably have been more troublesome if Ryan hadn't experienced something like it almost every time he had gotten into a fight with Chronos and their damned army of Zoanoids. That still didn't mean he had to like it. In fact, he really, really hated it. Hearing the whistling that meant Gaster had just launched another barrage of missiles, Ryan blasted the foremost of the group of projectiles with his Sonic Buster and had a moment of satisfaction as he watched most of them explode.

The others he took care of with his Head Beam.

_)Want me to take over for a bit, kid? You seem a little wrung out.(_

_)Like an old, wet rag,(_ he sent back. _)Thanks.(_

As Elegen took control of their shared body, Ryan settled himself to try and get a little mental rest while he could. They both knew that Elegen wasn't capable of using the Guyver's weapons, so there was that element of danger to the proceedings, but he could move well enough and had the self-preservation instincts to keep both their proverbial asses out of trouble. Diving and rolling out of yet another bio-missile barrage from Gaster, Elegen noticed that Sean – despite still being on his feet fighting – had been brutalized pretty badly by Darzerb.

_)It's that damned armor of his,( _Ryan sent tiredly. _)He's built like a Sherman tank.(_

_)I won't dispute that, kid.(_

Then, having an idea worthy of Ryan himself, Elegen ran straight at Darzerb. He could hear Gaster launching more missiles behind him, so he put on as much speed as he could without risking overshooting his mark and plowing right into the enemy Hyper Zoanoid. Ten of Gaster's bio-missiles were right on his tail, but without the use of the hyper-sensors, he had to turn and look over his shoulder to see them. As the projectiles began to close the distance between them, Elegen noticed that he had just regained the full use of Ryan's left arm.

Darzerb was right in front of him now, and Elegen was supremely grateful that all of Ryan's limbs were in full working condition. He'd need them for this crazy little stunt. Vaulting over Darzerb's head by using the Hyper Zoanoid's huge shoulders as a springboard, Elegen chuckled softly to himself as he heard the missiles all hit Darzerb in various places.

They were mostly detonating in his face, if the way he was blistering the air with curses was anything to go on. However, with Darzerb's attention rather forcibly diverted, Guyver IV was starting to recover. Guyver healing abilities at work, Elegen figured.

"Thanks for the help, Ryan," the other Guyver gasped, obviously wrung out, though he was starting not to look it.

"Not a problem, kid," he said.

"Elegen, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me," he said, not sure if he liked the Guyver's tone but not wanting to draw attention to it in case he was reading things wrong.


	15. Show Must Go On

Sean nodded, still not sure how exactly to deal with the fact that Ryan was some kind of Human-Zoanoid hybrid, or that the younger boy was still on their side in spite of that fact. It was just too strange to even think about sometimes, so most of the time Sean just tried to ignore it. And for the most part, he wasn't forced to face Ryan's abnormality head-on. Things like that made it a great deal easier to forget that Ryan, for all his helpfulness, was somehow part Zoanoid.

"Want any more help with the big guy, kid? Or should I just deal with the other three?"

It was tempting, so very tempting for Sean to say that he needed help. And it was the truth, in any case. But there was always that feeling of uncertainty, that slight prickling of fear he got when he had to deal with Ryan's Zoanoid half.

He may not have known Elegen that well, but all Zoanoids were the same; there was even a Zoanoid called Elegen who had been fighting side-by-side with Darzerb and the others. That Elegen had run away, but since that had seemed to be what the other Zoanoids had wanted him to do, that didn't really mean anything.

"No, you take care of the other three. I can handle him," he said, hoping that what he said turned out to be true.

"Are you sure about that? I've fought with Darzerb before. Next to Zektor, he's the strongest Hyper Zoanoid in this entire group," Elegen said.

Nodding, Sean acknowledged Elegen's expertise. Still, fighting side-by-side with a Hyper Zoanoid – wondering when or if Elegen would turn on him – wasn't something that he could ever really be comfortable with.

"I know he's tough," he said, hoping that didn't sound as snappish as it felt to say. "I've been fighting him, remember?"

XxXxX

"All right, fine. Whatever. It's your health, kid."

Turning away to face his own opponents, Elegen "felt" Ryan trying to reassert himself.

_)You're feeling better now, I take it?(_

_)Yeah, I'm good,(_ Ryan sent, with the mental equivalent of a nod.

_)All right, kid. I'll leave the rest to you.(_

Breathing out as he regained control of his body, Ryan noticed that there were only two Hyper Zoanoids left for him to deal with. On one level, he was glad not to have to deal with the other Elegen—at the very least, Snake-head would appreciate not having to kill another of his own kind. But then, even one single Hyper Zoanoid loose in the city could do a lot of damage, especially since Sean wasn't anywhere near good enough to take them on. This battle was concrete proof of that.

_)Right. First we deal with these yahoos, and then we go hunt down your counterpart.(_

_)Well, when you put it that way, how _can _I refuse?(_ Elegen sent, his mental tone teasingly sarcastic.

The next thing they noticed was that Gaster had just fired another barrage of missiles. Diving and rolling out of the way, Ryan fired the Pressure Cannon, but unlike his late comrade,

Gaster managed to dodge. Cursing in English and Japanese, Ryan ran just as Gaster started launching missile after missile at him.

By the time the barrage ended, Ryan had had more than enough of being used as a humanoid bulls-eye. When the last of the dust had settled, Ryan's flying-kick plowed into Gaster's head. Using the Hyper Zoanoid's head as a springboard, Ryan leaped behind him, hooked his arms under Gaster's own, and flung the Hyper Zoanoid backwards over his head.

Breathing deeply to steady himself after his recent exertion, Ryan turned his attention to the sole remaining Zerabubuse.

"Okay, so we have Larry and Moe. Where's Curly?"

If Zerabubuse had possessed eyelids in his Hyper Zoanoid form, he would have blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

"Oh, so we're the Three Stooges now, are we?!" Gaster demanded, irate.

"Wonder of wonders, you actually got that," Ryan scoffed.

"You watch your mouth, Guyver!"

He laughed, then fired the Head Beam directly into Gaster's left eye. Charging forward while Gaster was still blinded by the pain of his wound, Ryan caught a glimpse of the last Zerabubuse running to cut him off. He wasn't worried: Zerabubuse, while he was big enough to take a lot of punishment and strong enough to dish out more than his share, was also about as fast as a constipated snail and only half as agile.

Dodging a swipe from the other Hyper Zoanoid's huge claws, Ryan slammed his foot into Gaster's face with enough power to stun the bio-missile equipped Hyper. With the time he had managed to buy with that little stunt, Ryan tore open his left chest plate and started charging the Mega-Smasher. By the time Gaster noticed the bright light gathering in the lens, it was too late, and even at half power the Mega-Smasher was enough to kill him.

Zerabubuse, seeing the fate that would soon be his if he did nothing to prevent it, decided to help Darzerb dispose of Guyver IV, discretion being the better part of not getting reduced to his component molecules. At least _that_ kid couldn't put up as good a fight as Guyver V.

Sighing deeply with the kind of bittersweet satisfaction he always had when he had to kill things that were threatening him, Ryan looked for the last Zerabubuse. Finding him just as the Hyper Zoanoid was about to launch his first attack on Sean, Ryan raced to intercept him.

"Hey, crab-face!" he shouted, aiming to draw the Hyper Zoanoid's attention back to himself. "You're fighting me, remember?!"

"Go to hell, Guyver V!"

_)Okay, not the answer I was hoping for,(_ Ryan sent as he dodged the spray of acid that had been aimed at his legs.

_)But pretty much what you expected?(_

_)Yeah, pretty much,(_ Ryan answered with the mental equivalent of a sigh.

Running until he managed to get alongside Zerabubuse, Ryan slashed the pair of eyes on the left side of the Hyper Zoanoid's head with his own left Vibration Blade. Then, while the Hyper Zoanoid was reeling in half-blinding agony, he knocked the pillar-like legs out from under him with a momentum-enhanced kick. It would be some time before Zerabubuse could haul that huge, armored hulk of his back upright, Ryan knew, and that would give him the time he needed to make sure Sean wasn't having too bad a time of it with Darzerb. Not that he really expected Sean to win—not with the wimpy Zoanoids his fellow Guyver was going up against, and not with the way he tended to waste time kicking and punching the way he seemed to be stuck on doing.

It was obvious that Darzerb still had the upper hand, both because he was completely fucking huge, and because all of the Zoanoids Sean had fought before were a bunch of wimps. He knew this now without any doubt, since he'd just had the "privilege" of encountering the Zoanoids in Sean's neck of the woods. That, combined with the way Sean tended to fight, was giving Darzerb the opportunity to beat on him like freshly-risen bread dough.

_+Sean!+_

_+Ryan, is that you?+ _Sean asked, wanting to be sure about just who it was he was talking to.

_+Yeah, it's me again. You didn't have to be such a jerk to Elegen, though, you know?+_

_+He's a Zoanoid,+_ Sean said, as if that was all the reasoning he had ever or would ever need. _+What do you expect me to do, play nice?+_

_+No.+_ That would be a stupid thing to ask someone in their position—stupid and pointless and he wasn't going to bother doing it. _+But you could at least try to be civil when you talk to him.+_

_+Oh, _civil, Sean sneered, sounding like he'd just been asked to cut off one of his own feet with a rusty hacksaw. _+You want me to be _civil _to a damned Hyper Zoanoid just because he lives in your head. After all they've done to me, I _don't _see that happening. _Ever_.+_

Ryan couldn't help it; he laughed, long, loud and derisive. _+Sean, you hadn't faced a Hyper Zoanoid in your life up until tonight. Besides, all of the Zoanoids you've fought are a bunch of pansy-assed little wimps. Empirical studies will prove that's true.+_ He chuckled again.

Without waiting for Sean to respond, Ryan charged Darzerb. Swinging over the huge, gray Hyper Zoanoid's back, Ryan latched onto his upper jaw with almost leech-like tenacity. Bracing his feet against that broad, leathery back, Ryan forced Darzerb's jaw open far wider than the Hyper would have ever done on his own.

Then, with a final surge of bio-boosted muscles, Ryan tore the top of Darzerb's head clean off.

As the Hyper Zoanoid's already-dissolving corpse slumped bonelessly to the ground, Ryan backflipped to land neatly on his feet. Turning and dusting off his hands as if to say "that's how it's done", he faced Sean once again. Both Guyvers were silent, even as a blast of steam escaped from the vents set into Guyver V's cheeks. His Control Medal and his eyes both glowed softly as he continued his wordless study of Guyver IV.


	16. Who We Be

For Sean, not knowing how to respond to something that had been clearly meant as an insult was a new and slightly aggravating situation. On the one hand, he'd never let someone insult him and get away with it in his life; on the other, the insult wasn't really aimed at him so much as the people he'd been fighting. Not to mention the fact that the guy who had just obliquely insulted him was a Guyver himself—a Guyver who, unlike Crane, was on the same side as he and the ACTF.

There was also the fact that he really _didn't_ know all of what Ryan had been through, or just what the younger boy was capable of. It could very well be true that the Zoanoids in L.A. were as weak and pathetic as Ryan had said, at least in comparison to the ones he had been fighting in Japan; that really wasn't a comforting thought. Still, if the way Ryan had handled himself in the fight against those Hyper Zoanoids was any indication, he was probably tough enough to give him – with all the martial arts training he'd put himself through – a hard time even _with_ the aid of the Guyver.

In fact, if he had been back in the compound with Cori instead of out in the street with Ryan, he probably would have told her that he wasn't sure if he was strong enough to fight the younger Guyver and win yet. And Cori, being Cori, would have probably been able to find some way to talk him out of trying. She always seemed to know just how to talk him out of doing stupid things.

But he _wasn't_ back at HQ with Cori; he was standing out in the middle of the street with a Human-Zoanoid hybrid he still wasn't completely sure he could trust. That made all the difference. But there would be plenty of time to deal with Ryan later, after they'd dealt with the last of the seven attacking Hyper Zoanoids.

"Hello, lunch!" shouted an insanely gleeful voice that Sean was sure he had never heard before.

Looking at the red Hyper Zoanoid in front of them, the one Ryan had called Zerabubuse, Sean saw the pair of very human-looking hands holding like clamps onto the sides of the Hyper Zoanoid's head. They _looked_ human enough, but Sean knew that whatever those hands were attached to couldn't possibly be a human. Otherwise Zerabubuse wouldn't have been screaming in pain the way he was, and the skin where the new creature's fingertips were touching wouldn't have been melting and bubbling like a cheap candle.

No, he was sure that whatever this new guy was, it wasn't anything _close_ to human. Still, that _did_ leave the question of what this new guy was completely open.

"Well," Ryan said cheerfully, "I guess we really don't need to worry about Zerabubuse anymore."

"Maybe," he allowed. "But maybe we _should_ worry about that new guy."

"Aptom?" Ryan asked, with an offhanded casualness that set Sean on edge. "Nah, he's harmless. A little nuts, maybe, but harmless."

That was the final straw as far as Sean was concerned, since in his book "a little nuts" did not equal "harmless".

"_Harmless?_" Aptom echoed, obviously more than a little affronted. "Don't insult me, little red, or I might just have to try eating you again."

"Really now?" Ryan chuckled. "You mean you've already forgotten what happened the last time you tried to pull a stupid stunt like that?" he continued tauntingly.

"_That_ was just a fluke and you know it," Aptom shot back, his face twitching slightly.

"Yeah, well you just keep telling yourself that." Ryan's tone was openly mocking this time. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, Zoanoid muncher."

Aptom, with his crazed red eyes, huge facial scar, and stringy black hair that hung into his face, wasn't someone that Sean could ever think of as being harmless. His voice certainly didn't help—the man had a "thuggish" sort of voice, but he sounded like the kind of thug who would be working closely with his boss to help plan heists and stuff like that, rather than a dumb thug who ended up dying halfway though the movie. Still, that didn't really endear the guy to him. Smart thugs were a lot more dangerous than dumb ones.

It was right then that Ryan's conversation with Aptom and its full implications had a chance to register with him for the first time.

_+What do you mean "Zoanoid muncher"? And why did he just threaten to try to eat you _again_? Just what the hell _is _this guy?+_ he demanded over the Guyver-link, not wanting Aptom to overhear. Who knew _what_ he would do?

_+In order: Aptom here eats Zoanoids like you and I eat pizza. Yes, he did try to eat me once, but I ended up escaping with Elegen instead. He's threatening to do it again because he's a bastard and he wants to annoy me. And, from what he and Sho both tell me, Aptom here was a Hyper Zoanoid before old Dr. Balkus did something to him that made him evolve into a parasite.+_

Sean filed that name away for future reference: apparently Ryan – or at least this Sho guy – knew about Fulton Balcas. He wondered for a moment if he should tell Ryan what had happened to the Zoalord, but he decided to hold off on that until he'd gotten some answers about Aptom.

_+Wait, if Aptom's a parasite that feeds on Zoanoids, why did he ever _try _eating you? You're a Guyver.+_

_+I don't know what he thought he was doing; you'll have to ask him that,+_ Ryan said, and Sean privately thought that wasn't very likely. _+But then again, maybe there aren't that many differences between a Guyver and a Zoanoid as far as he's concerned.+_

_+How can you be so calm about all of this?!+ _Sean exploded, completely fed up with Ryan's cavalier attitude. _+You're telling me that he not only eats Zoanoids, but he can eat Guyvers, too if you give him half the chance! How the hell can you trust him?!+_

_+I only trust this guy as far as I can see him,+_ Ryan said, with that same almost unnatural calmness. _+And even then only until Chronos is completely destroyed. After that, all bets are off.+_

XxXxX

_)That's pretty much how you feel about Makashima, isn't it kid?(_

_)Yeah. Aptom and Agito are two guys I'd trust about as far as I could throw an aircraft-carrier in human form.(_

_)That's a real interesting way of putting it,( _Elegen's words were accompanied by the mental equivalent of a chuckle.

_)Well, I'm real glad I can provide you with a ready source of amusement, Snake-head,(_ he returned with the same kind of mental laughter.

_+Ryan? Ryan!+_

_+Huh? What's all the ruckus about, Sean?+_

_+You spaced out on me completely! I could barely even reach you through the link,+_ Sean said, and Ryan couldn't quite decide if he sounded more worried or angry.

_+Sorry for worrying you—I guess I did get a little preoccupied there.+_

_+Preoccupied by what?+_

_+Elegen and I were discussing a few things,+_ he explained.

_+Things like what?+_ Sean asked, sounding wary.

_+Nothing you won't find out for yourself later, I'm sure,+_ he muttered, watching in morbid fascination as Aptom continued to digest his Hyper Zoanoid prey, then turning away when he got a bit too grossed out.

He could see Sean giving him sort of a sidelong look, and he suspected that the other guy wasn't too happy with him for that. But there was a time and a place for discussing the history of Japan's anti-Chronos resistance movement, and this was definitely neither. When he finally looked back, Zerabubuse was nowhere to be found; poor bastard had been eaten alive from the inside out. It wasn't often that he felt sorry for a Zoanoid, but when Aptom got to them…

"C'mon," Sean said, cutting off that train of thought. "Let's get back to the base."

"Sure."

It wasn't like there was any pressing matter keeping them here—not with Aptom on the loose.


	17. Phenomenon

Elegen, glad to have gotten away from the two Guyvers but not so happy that he'd had to sacrifice three of his fellow Hyper Zoanoids to get even that far, paused on a rooftop to catch his breath. He'd been racing at panic speed ever since he had gotten away from the battle, and it had taken its toll on him. Guyvers could fly (any Zoanoid or Hyper Zoanoid knew that fact), and he had no desire to be spotted and killed because he'd gotten careless and forgotten that fact. That would have been an extremely embarrassing way to die.

That thought managed to evoke a grunt of morbid semi-amusement from him as he started moving again. Jumping back down to street-level, he looked around carefully to be sure that he wouldn't be leading a Guyver or two right back to Chronos' Los Angeles headquarters. Not only would something like that have been stupid on any number of levels, it would probably have gotten him executed for incompetence.

Lords Caerleon and Mirabilis were both very determined to avoid the fate of the previous Chronos L.A. Anyone who did anything to screw up those plans was likely to buy themselves a Gravity Bullet to the face or some other form of sudden, violent death. Being incinerated by Lord Caerleon was the fate that Elegen was most hoping to avoid. A Gravity Bullet or Wind Scythe was one thing, since at least that way would be quick and relatively painless, but he'd heard that Lord Caerleon could take anywhere from three to five _hours_ when he used one of his more… esoteric methods of execution.

He'd even seen the Zoalord do it once, as much as he really would have preferred to forget that he'd ever seen such a thing. Not the full five-hour treatment, but watching a fellow Zoanoid – even if they hadn't been a Hyper – burn to death over the course of three wasn't something he'd ever be able to forget. Even worse than the sounds, which had been horrible enough in and of themselves, were the smell. Charring flesh, burning hair, and the reek of sizzling bodily fluids; it was something he was sure would stick with him until the day he died. Even worse, at least in terms of his long-term health, was that Lord Mirabilis – who had seemed like a fairly nice, low-key kind of guy – had clearly been taking his cues from Lord Caerleon.

As fate would have it, the poor bastard Lord Caerleon had accused of being a Guyver collaborator had been nothing of the sort. He'd just been one of the many incompetent morons that the late former head of this sorry excuse for a Chronos base had hired for some reason or other. Elegen knew that the Council of Zoalords most likely had their own suspicions about why the dead man had been so singularly stupid in his choice of hirelings, but he just thought that Fulton Balcas had been an idiot, plain and simple.

_Balcas,_ Elegen laughed to himself, filled with a mordant sort of good humor. _Dr. Balkus would have personally wrung Gyou's neck if he found out that idiot was named after him._

_Would have_, but for the somewhat inconvenient fact – at least as far as cheap laughs at some poor shmuck's expense went, anyway – that _former_ Commander Gyou had been executed by Supreme Overlord Alkanphel for disobedience, conspiracy, and attempted treason.

The newly refurbished Chronos L.A. building had come fully into view by the time he had run out of things to think about, and he couldn't have been more pleased with the timing. Checking in with the security staff that had been posted at all of the various entrances and exits, he took a moment to savor the feeling of being back where he belonged. These people were pretty much like him: fellow Zoanoids, even if they _weren't_ Hypers.

Like him, most of them were Japanese imports. However, if they were all to transform at once, Elegen was sure he would have been able to recognize some Russian models, and probably some Antarctic, Australian, and African models as well. He would have been fairly shocked if there _weren't _any African Zoanoids here, both since Lord Caerleon had put out a call for any and all unassigned Zoanoids to report to the Chronos L.A. building, and since Lord Mirabilis was the overseer for the Africa Section.

Making his way down to the observation level – what passed for one in this sorry excuse for a base, anyway – since that was where he got the strongest sense of a Zoalord's distinctive mental presence, Elegen mentally composed his report.

Stepping off of the elevator, he ascended onto the hastily constructed catwalk that had been built in the cafeteria. He'd never heard of a base without a Proving Ground before, but apparently this was it. Whoever had designed this place would be dead meat when Lord Caerleon caught up with them, no doubt.

Lord Mirabilis' distinctive visored visage was the first thing he noticed when he got close enough to make out more than basic forms. Lord Caerleon's reddish-gold mane was the next thing to catch his eye, since Lord Mirabilis' own body prevented him from being able to see the whole of the Sixth Zoalord.

"Not very impressive, are they?" Lord Caerleon asked, with obvious disdain.

"Well, I guess not," Lord Mirabilis said, glancing from the low-level Zoanoids gathered below them to Lord Caerleon.

Looking down into the impromptu Proving Ground, Elegen saw that all of the remaining Los Angeles Zoanoids had been gathered there. It was incredibly crowded—standing room only. But none of the Zoanoids present were complaining about the sheer lack of anything resembling breathing room. In fact, each and every one of them was staring up at the two Zoalords on the catwalk with varying degrees of fearful awe. He couldn't help but think that Lord Caerleon had had something to do with that; probably barbecued a few of them for being impertinent. _My heart bleeds for them,_ Elegen sneered inwardly.

He wasn't surprised they'd have that kind of reaction to a pair of Overlords, especially since their last boss had been a loser who'd barely deserved the name _Hyper Zoanoid._ As far as he was concerned, calling that bone-headed, brain-dead dimwit a Hyper Zoanoid was an insult to the memory of Zektor and his other comrades. In his book, you did _not _get to be called a Hyper Zoanoid if you were barely stronger than a Standard model—and not the trash that masqueraded as Standard in this sorry excuse for a base, either.

Sure, he'd heard the guy had had some telepathic abilities, but he would have been willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that they wouldn't have been nearly up to snuff when compared to a real Zoalord.

"Have you heard from Waferdanos?" Lord Mirabilis asked earnestly, forcefully drawing Elegen's attention back to the matters at hand.

"He has stated that he will arrive before the end of the day." Lord Caerleon spoke calmly, the way he would even when he had some poor bastard writhing in the grip of his flames. "I rather think that he is still arranging for one or more of his loyal aides to take over the running of Chronos Brazil for him. You should know by now that he likes to be very thorough in his work."

"Yeah, and Dad always said that you couldn't trust humans to manage these kinds of things," Lord Mirabilis said. "But it's almost sunrise now, so I don't think he'll be here for awhile," the Ninth Zoalord said, sounding unaccountably disappointed by that idea. "But I guess this way he'll be able to finish up those projects he likes to work on, so he'll be able to stay longer."

Lord Mirabilis was obviously happy to have Lord Waferdanos stay longer. He'd never even known that the two of them were friends, but it seemed that even Zoalords needed some companionship every now and then. Well, _some_ of them, anyway, he amended with a glance at Lord Caerleon's impassive face.

"I suppose that would be true," Lord Caerleon said, turning a slightly dubious look on Lord Mirabilis.

"It's still really good to know that Waferdanos is going to come," Lord Mirabilis said, seeming to be ignoring the look Lord Caerleon was shooting him, if he even noticed it in the first place. "But, have you heard anything from Rienzi?"

"He has his own duties to concern himself with at Chronos Beijing, as you know," Lord Caerleon said, turning his attention from Lord Mirabilis to the gathered Zoanoids. "However, he _has_ stated that he will be willing and able to come to this base when or if we have need of him. You should know that he prefers the more settled pace of things at his own facility."

"Ah, _gomen, Caerreon-san_," Lord Mirabilis said, his Japanese accent even more pronounced now that he had slipped into his native language.

Lord Caerleon gave the other Zoalord a _look_ for that, then his gaze settled on Elegen.

"Elegen, your report."

He was at least smart enough to know that it wasn't a request.

Bowing sharply, Elegen recited the exact sequence of events that had led to him leaving Gaster, Darzerb, and Zerabubuse behind to fight against two Guyvers. He was pretty concerned about the possible reactions of the two Zoalords in front of him, though if he was going to be perfectly honest it was really Lord Caerleon who worried him, since he knew damn well that as a "mere" Hyper Zoanoid, his life was utterly in their hands. If they didn't like what he had to say…

When Lord Caerleon turned to speak with Lord Mirabilis, Elegen shoved those distracting thoughts out of his mind with more force than was perhaps strictly necessary.


	18. One Vision

"So now we have two Guyvers to contend with," Lord Caerleon said pointedly.

"Yeah," Lord Mirabilis said, looking out over the ranks of Zoanoids, then turning back to his flame-haired counterpart with an expression that was as confused as Elegen felt.

"It _is_ possible that we would be able to convince the Anti Chronos Task Force and their allied Guyver to lower their guard," Lord Caerleon said, clearly prompting Lord Mirabilis on something.

"Well… we could use them to do that, couldn't we?" Lord Mirabilis asked, pointing down at the gathered loser-Zoanoids with an expression that was only marginally less confused than his previous one had been.

"Yes," Lord Caerleon said, casting a glance over the trash at their feet before turning his attention back to his fellow Overlord. "I suppose that having them serve as targets for the Guyvers _would_ be a better use of our resources than if we were to dispose of them all ourselves. I would, personally, consider it a far more _useful_ alternative," he continued, looking at Lord Mirabilis rather than the gathered Zoanoids.

In fact, Elegen would have been willing to swear before Dr. Balkus himself that Lord Caerleon was acting the part of Lord Mirabilis' teacher or tutor or something like that. That, of course, only drove home exactly how much he _didn't_ know about the Ninth Zoalord.

"Oh, right," Lord Mirabilis said, sounding a bit uncomfortable for reasons Elegen was sure he'd never understand. "I guess we could use them like that, then, Mr. Caerleon."

"As I have said before, there is no need for such formalities, Ingriam."

"Okay, Mr.- ah, Edward."

Elegen felt it when the two Zoalords dismissed him; it was unmistakable given what he was. Bowing to both of them, he hurried out of what passed for the Observation Level, grateful to have escaped punishment and curious about what kind of person their Ninth Zoalord was when he was at home.

XxXxX

As Elegen left, Edward Caerleon dismissed the Hyper Zoanoid from his thoughts. What he was more interested in was the Zoalord Ingriam—the boy Kenji, for that was who he still clearly was. He was a strange boy, a strange child, given the full powers of a Zoalord and the command of his own Section – though he was clearly more of a figurehead than anything, as was proper at his age – before he had had the chance to truly mature. It _was_ rather interesting to watch the child as he was forced to react to situations that no other child of his chronological age would have ever been put in.

"So, um, when do you think we should send them out?" the little one asked, darting a glance from him to the gathered Zoanoids.

_Zoanoids, pah. These worthless, mutant stock would disgrace the name of Lost Number were it not for the failures encompassed by that designation._ "I would suggest they be sent out as soon as possible, if not immediately. The Anti Chronos Task Force and their Guyver would not likely be expecting us to strike again so soon."

"Well, Ryan Crouger might," Ingriam said, appearing as if he was lost in thought. "Mr. Dr. Balkus said that he was craftier than anyone but Agito Makashima. Well, actually he said he was more _annoying_, but I think he might have meant the other thing, too."

"Yes," he said, already beginning to think of a way to mitigate the threat presented by the Fifth Guyver. "However, given the specifics of what Elegen reported to us, it seems that the Fourth and Fifth Guyvers do not fully trust one another."

"Maybe that's because the Fifth Guyver has a Hyper Zoanoid living in his head," Ingriam suggested.

"Yes," he agreed, turning a small smile on the boy for his accurate – if crude – summation of the likely cause of the Fourth Guyver's animosity toward the Fifth. "There could very well be a cause for the Fourth Guyver's animosity. Now, child, how would you suggest that we turn this situation to our advantage?"

"Well…" the boy paused, clearly thinking deeply, as well he might. "Maybe we could tell the Fourth Guyver that the Fi— Wait, that won't work." He cut himself off, appearing disappointed with himself.

"The concept itself is sound." And it was: he was not going to bother coddling the boy. "If we were to order all Zoanoids not to attack the Fifth Guyver, it would be very likely to engender suspicion on the Fourth Guyver's part." He smiled tightly. "Humans are such pathetically predictable things, even Guyvers: they see what they _want_ to see."

He was pleased to know that Ingriam was not so dull-witted as most children of his age were prone to be.

"That could work," Ingriam said, seeming perfectly content to let another take credit for an idea that had originated with him.

It was not a course of action that would have been taken by any other Zoalord, but as the boy was young and unsure of himself, he was not particularly concerned about that.

"However, if we were to order our Zoanoids not to attack the Fifth Guyver, there would be very little to prevent _him_ from attacking _us_." Certainly not the truly idiotic sentiment that prevented the First Guyver from attacking Imakarum Mirabilis; and would, more than likely, be more than enough to prevent the boy from acting in any way against his offspring.

"Couldn't we do something about that?"

"Yes." He paused for a moment to consider the situation. "Leave that to me. However, it would probably be in our best interests to send out some more of this rabble now, to keep the Anti Chronos Task Force from realizing that there has been such a drastic change of management."

"Good idea," Ingriam said.

Separating out ten Los Angeles Zoanoids from the group of several hundred, Edward gave them their marching orders. He did not bother to have Ingriam confirm them, since at this base and in this situation Ingriam amounted to little more than his student. After all of the Los Angeles Zoanoids had departed the hastily-contrived Proving Ground with strict orders not to mix with any other Zoanoid groups, Edward sensed something. From the way Ingriam's head snapped up suddenly, the boy himself had also sensed it.

Edward knew that the child was fully aware of just what – more importantly, _who _– it was that he was sensing, so he took the boy by the arm and led him back into the main area of the Chronos Los Angeles facility, where a large group of South American Zoanoids were gathered in the main reception area of the building.

Edward knew they would have sensed the approach of two additional Zoalords, so he was not surprised to see them obediently separate into two distinct groups and part smoothly to allow their masters through. He was also unsurprised to see Ingriam scurry past him in an effort to meet their guest all the sooner. He knew as well as anyone that the boy was fond of this one.

XxXxX

Hurrying past all the Zoanoids, he smiled as Uncle Waferdanos caught him up in a hug. He was really happy to see the older Zoalord, even if his dad still wasn't here. There were times he wondered just why that was, but Mr. Lord Caerleon kept him busy enough that he didn't really have time to think about that.

"I'm really happy to see you again, Uncle Waferdanos," he said, smiling as he cuddled the big Zoalord with the long, tickly beard.

Uncle Waferdanos gently petted his head, and he could feel more than hear the big Zoalord chuckling. He could also feel Waferdanos' hands running through his hair, and then…

"Hey, cut it out!"

"I simply don't understand why you insist on putting that ridiculous thing in your hair. You would look so much more dignified without it," Waferdanos said, holding up his hair band.

"But I like it this way, and the hair makes my neck itch, but I don't want to cut it, 'cause Dad said he likes it this way, and I think-"

But then Uncle Waferdanos was squeezing him tight enough that he couldn't talk really well, and petting his hair so that he didn't really want to. Uncle Waferdanos was also putting his hair back up, so that was really nice, and another reason he didn't want to talk too much, since Uncle Waferdanos might get mad and stop.

_-All right, now I understand your reasons, my boy,- _Uncle Waferdanos said, patting his head after he'd put his ponytail back just the way he liked. _-Even though I don't particularly agree with them.-_

When he pulled away from Uncle Waferdanos, he saw that all of the Zoanoids the other Zoalord had brought with him were facing away from them. Mr. Lord Caerleon was doing that, too, but before he had a chance to wonder why that was, Mr. Lord Caerleon turned back and started talking.

"Come, Lord Waferdanos," he said, walking over and waving for them both to follow him. "We really should begin discussing our plans. You as well, child. I think this could very well be a valuable learning experience for you."

"Okay," he said, nodding and going over to Uncle Waferdanos so he could hold his hand while they walked.

Uncle Waferdanos was really the nicest of the Council that he'd met. Well, except for Dad of course, but Dad hadn't been around much lately. He wanted to ask why that was, but no one seemed to know. It was really weird.


	19. Young and Proud

As he lead them to the Conference Room and at least this pathetic excuse for a facility _had_ a Conference Room he reflected on what their plans were to be. They would have to act quickly: it was likely that the Fifth Guyver would do everything in his power to gain the trust of the Fourth. They would thus have only a limited time in which to enact their plan. It would be an interesting mental problem, if nothing else.

Once they reached the Conference Room, Waferdanos dismissed his Zoanoid aides and closed the door. The room itself was tastefully appointed, if a bit ostentatious. It was truly the only thing he could find only minor fault with in this entire miserable facility.

"Ingriam made a rather interesting suggestion as to how to deal with the problem of the Guyvers," he said, realizing even as Waferdanos turned to regard Chronos youngest Zoalord that Ingriam would not have the nerve to speak so candidly to Waferdanos.

The boy seemed to regard the Third Zoalord in much the same way he regarded his father: an infallible pillar of wisdom and strength that was not to be questioned or spoken to in anything but the most reverent of tones. It was times like this that Edward found himself questioning the wisdom of whoever it was that had allowed a boy of Ingriams age to join the Council of Zoalords in the first place. Such thoughts were likely to be considered treasonous, however, so he tried to refrain from entertaining them.

"When I observed that the Fourth Guyver does not seem to entirely trust the Fifth, in spite of the fact that they are both clearly on the same side, he suggested that we use the mistrust that exists between them to our advantage. We would have to act quickly, before the Fifth Guyver manages to earn the trust of his counterpart in this area," he said, summing up the ideas that had been thought up during his conversation with the young Ninth Zoalord.

"How would you suggest we go about that, Caerleon?" Waferdanos asked, evidently realizing that Ingriam would not be able to speak to him in the manner of one Zoalord to another.

"We would likely have to order all of our Zoanoids not to attack him," he said, glancing briefly towards Ingriam as he smiled and nodded at Waferdanos.

"How, then, would we prevent the boy from attacking us in turn?" Waferdanos asked, looking from him to Ingriam, who still seemed too shy to speak.

It was a rather annoying defect of _this_ Ninth Zoalord of Chronos.

"I rather doubt that we would have to," he elaborated. "If we were to employ our Zoanoids with a modicum of cunning, we would likely be able to easily have the Fourth Guyver kill the Fifth for us. Then it would be a relatively simple task to kill the Fourth Guyver and the whole of the Anti Chronos Task Force as well."

"Judging by the memories of these pitiful excuses for Zoanoids, it should be quite a great deal more simple than even you think, Caerleon," Waferdanos rumbled.

"Yes, I think you would be right about that," he said.

Seeing as there was nothing else to discus about these matters, he stood and turned away from the large, round conference table. Hearing the scraping of chairs that indicated his fellow Overlords were rising from their own places at the table, he turned back only once.

"Is something the matter, Ingriam?"

"Do you think Mr. Yentsuis going to come soon?"

"Its as I told you, Ingriam," he said, slightly annoyed but making a game attempt not to show it, "Yentsui will come if we have need of his presence."

"Oh," the child said, obviously disappointed. "Okay then."

With a nod, he left the Third and Ninth Zoalords to find something to occupy themselves. Heading back out into the main area of the building, he decided that he would have a meal. Dealing with this useless excuse for a facility was enough to make anyone want to indulge themselves.

XxXxX

Leaning against the wall so he would be out of the way, Ryan observed the comings and goings of the people mostly soldiers, but he thought he could see a few civilians here and there whod been stationed here. He had to admit, for a bunch of normal people, the ACTF really had their act together. There was a definite sense of purpose to the way these people moved; maybe it was just the military aspect, but it was obviously there.

He had a couple uncles in the Army, but since he didnt know anything about them other than the fact that they were enlisted, he couldnt really say if this was an ACTF attribute in particular, or if all Army guys acted like this. Hearing footsteps, Ryan shoved those thoughts out of his mind and turned to look down the hall to see just who else was coming. When it turned out to be Sean, he smiled.

"Hey, Sean, whats up?"

"Hey, yourself," the older boy said, though he looked and sounded a bit wary. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing, really. Im just getting a feel for the place. You really know how to pick your allies, Sean. These people obviously know just what theyre getting themselves into here," he said appreciatively.

"What about the imports?" Sean asked, clearly determined not to forget about that little problem.

Ryan himself could more than sympathize. "If it was only that one group of Hyper Zoanoids that we had to deal with, Id probably tell you not to worry so much. But I seriously doubt that those seven we killed back there were the only ones of their kind on this side of the pond. Its not Chronos style to be so careless."

"So, what do we _do?_" Sean repeated, as if Ryan hadnt heard his question the first time.

"We keep our guard up," he said firmly. "We dont let ourselves get complacent. In short, we do just what the people staffing this base have been doing for a long time," he pontificated, wincing inwardly at how stupid that must have sounded.

Luckily, Sean didnt seem to notice or care about the platitudes that had just been spouted at him. "By the way, Ryan, what were those weapons you used against the Hyper Zoanoids? I dont think Ive ever seen them before."

"How many of the Guyvers weapons _have_ you used?" he asked.

"Ive used that big cannon under the chestplates, the laser on the forehead, and youve seen me use the arm-blades," Sean said.

"Okay, so you know about the Mega-Smasher, the Head Beam, and the Vibration Blades," he said, counting them off as he named them for Seans benefit. "Seems that the only things you dont know about are the Pressure Cannon and the Sonic Buster."

"The what and what?" Sean asked, clearly stumped by the new terms.

"The Pressure Cannon and the Sonic Buster. Theyre two of the Guyvers other weapons," he elaborated. "Not nearly as powerful as the Mega-Smasher, but they do get the job done. And theyre good for mid-sized kills, too."

Sean narrowed his eyes, but since he seemed more contemplative than outright threatening, Ryan decided to wait and see what his fellow Guyver would do or say next.

"Ryan, can you teach me?"

"Huh?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Seam swallowed, seeming to steel himself for something. "I want to learn how to use the Guyvers weapons. All of them. I want to learn to fight the way you do."

Ah. Probably swallowing his pride, then. "All right," he sighed, resigning himself to a long and painful morning. "Ill meet you at the Training Grounds."

"Ill be there," Sean promised solemnly.


	20. Learn To Do It

They shook hands and went their separate ways, each thinking his own thoughts. Only, unlike Sean and everyone else in the far-off Land of Normal People, Ryan had an audience for _his_ musings.

__

)Well, this_ is going to be distinctly unpleasant.(_

)Hey, you_ were the one who volunteered us for this, kid. If it had been up to me-(_

)It wasnt up to you, Snake-head. Besides, I wasnt complaining, I was making a candid observation.(

)Have I told you today that youre completely nuts?( Elegen sent.

__

)Well, not today_(_

The silent sound of mental laughter filled his mind as Ryan continued to make his way through the halls of the ACTFs forward base. He still couldnt help but chuckle when he thought about where the ACTFs primary R&D facility was located: the infamous Area 51.

It would have been a great joke, if hed thought that any of the Army guys would have been the type to get it. But these guys seemed a lot more stiff and formal than the ones hed seen before. Jack ONeill was more his type of soldier, but he was Air Force. Besides, _Stargate: SG-1_, while it may have been one of his favorite shows, was still just a TV show.

It had _nothing_ on his current reality.

Passing a water-cooler, Ryan poured himself two cups of the freshly chilled liquid and bolted them down. Wiping the remainder of the stuff off his face with his right wrist, he took a couple deep breaths and continued on his way. He already knew the way to the Training Grounds, having seen them when Sean was giving him the five-dollar tour, but this would be the first time hed put them to any kind of use.

He couldnt help but wonder what and how Sean would do in a real Guyver-on-Guyver fight. The guy seemed a lot like Agito at first glance, but with a bit less ego. Okay, make that a _lot_ less ego. But he did seem to have that same lone-wolf mentality as a certain Mr. Makashima. He could deal with it a lot more easily in this case, since Sean didnt have Agitos whole "youre not worthy of me" thing going on. In fact, there were quite a few times when Sean had almost reminded him of Sho.

Like Sho, Sean used the Guyver to protect all of the people who were being threatened by Chronos. And, just like Sho, Sean tended to feel bad when he arrived too late or felt for some reason that he hadnt done enough. Thankfully for his own peace of mind, Sean didnt have Shos annoyingly solid determination to ignore the cold, hard facts of reality when he didnt like them.

In fact, in that respect he was a lot like Ryan himself: pragmatic without being the kind of cold-hearted bastard that Agito had turned out to be. It was almost as if Seans personality was made up of the best or most useful parts of his, Agitos, and Shos personalities. It was a weird thing to think about, but it seemed to be true.

Now, standing just outside the doors to the Training Grounds, Ryan saw Sean just coming around the corner.

"I just got things okayed with Atkins. Well have the place all to ourselves for as long as we need it," Sean said.

"Cool," he said, nodding. "Still, I hope youre not going to hold anything I do in there against me, Sean."

"No," his fellow Guyver said, seeming mildly offended by the suggestion. "Why would I?"

"Well, its not like your attitude towards me has improved much," he pointed out.

"I like you just fine," Sean said, folding his arms and looking vaguely annoyed. "Its just"

"Elegen?"

"Yeah, him," Sean said, grimacing as if the name itself was offensive to him. "I just cant understand how you could be on our side with thatthat _thing_ in your head."

"Well, if it means anything to you, you should know that neither of us really planned this. It just sort of happened," he said with a shrug.

"How?" Sean asked, incredulous.

"You remember how Aptom absorbed that Zerabubuse we were about to fight?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Aptom tried to do the same thing to me a few months ago. He would probably have ended up fully absorbing me, too, if it hadnt been for Elegen."

"Why? What did he do?" Sean asked, clearly confused.

"Were still not quite sure how he managed to do it, and I personally doubt that we ever will be, but Elegen somehow got our bodies to fuse together into one new being. I think it might have had something to do with what Aptom was trying to do to me at the time, but Im not going to waste time asking him."

"What happened after that?" Sean asked.

"After that we kicked Aptoms ass, since neither of us was particularly happy with him," he said with a grin and a chuckle.

"Thats probably what I would have done, too," Sean replied, looking curious. "Is that why you can shoot lightning out of your hands, or is that another of the things youre going to teach me how to do while we fight?" he asked, moving closer to the doors while tucking his hands in his pockets.

"The electricitys pure Elegen, Im afraid. I cant even use it if Elegens not there. I either have to share control or let him take over completely when I want to use it. Thats caused me a few problems now and then, as you can imagine."

"Such as?" Sean asked warily.

"During the attack that Sho, Agito, and I made on Chronos other USA base." He sighed, swallowing a chuckle. "Chronos has this base in Chicago called the "Pillars of Heaven", which is a really pretentious name, if you ask me. Anyway, the three of us went to attack it. None of us were stupid enough to think that they wouldnt have an ass-load of Zoanoids to defend one of their precious bases, but none of us expected one of the Zoalords to be making an inspection."

"Wait," Sean cut in, "_one_ of the Zoalords? What are you talking about? I killed the only Zoalord that Chronos had."

"No offense, Sean, but if _you_ managed to kill him, theres no way in hell he was a Zoalord," he said flatly, biting back a laugh. Before Sean could say anything in response or even open his mouth, he continued, "Anyway, this Zoalords name was Friedrich van Purgstall, and he could control lightning. I thought I could use Elegens powers to counter him."

"Did it work?"

"I think it might have, if Id gotten the chance to try it. Once Purgstall noticed me, things kind of went right to hell. I never had the chance to find out if I could stand up to his telepathic powers or not."

"Wait," Sean said. "This Purgstall had telepathic powers?"

"Yeah," he said, not really surprised that Sean hadnt managed to find out this particular aspect of Zoalord specifications on his own. "All Zoalords have telepathic powers. Its how they control their armies of Zoanoids."

"So he controlled you and tried to make you attack Agito?"

"Well, happily for both of us, it never got to that point," he said with a rueful chuckle. "Dr. Balkus _did_ try to knock me unconscious once, though."

"Balcas was the one I killed!" Sean burst out.

Giving Sean his patented Lookthe one that loudly but wordlessly demanded, "just what the hell kind of crack are you smoking?"he continued, "Sean, lets get one thing straight here: you did _not_ kill Hamilcal Balkus."

"Hamilcal?" Sean echoed. "No, that guys name was Fulton."

"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, Sean, but Chronos doesnt have any Zoalords named Fulton Balkus."


	21. Bad Blood

"Well, then who are they?" Sean demanded, obviously annoyed.

"First up would be Alkanphel, the head of the Chronos Corporation and the most powerful Zoalord there is. At least, thats what Ive heard; Ive never fought him myself."

"How many Zoalords _have_ you fought?" Sean asked, giving him a sidelong look.

"Counting Balkus? Two."

"And how many Zoalords are there in Chronos?"

"Twelve," he answered, repeating the information Agito had given him. His fellow Guyver might have been a complete asshole, but he knew Chronos better than most people alive. "They call themselves the Twelve Chronos Overlords."

"Including that Purgstall you were telling me about?"

"Yeah," he sighed briefly. "Including him."

"But you killed him, right? So that only leaves eleven of these Chronos Overlords," Sean said, looking dubious but slightly hopeful.

"No, Sean," he said, not wanting the other Guyver to underestimate Chronos strongest enforcers, "we didnt kill him."

"_What_?! You mean to tell me that you, Agito, and Sho just let him go?!"

"Oh, is _that_ what you think?" he demanded, torn between annoyance and scornful laughter. "If you honestly believe that, Sean, youre a fucking idiot. There wasnt any _letting_ involved. That guy nearly killed me. Id like to see _you_ try moving after youve had your throat torn open and been gutted like a freshly caught fish."

"This Purgstall _gutted_ you?" Sean asked, obviously shocked. Given the kind of wimpy Zoanoids hed been fighting, Ryan wasnt surprised.

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "I had just finished clearing out one of the other rooms when I ran almost headlong into the guy. I didnt quite notice him at first; there were a bunch of Enzyme IIs in front of me, and I was really more concerned about them right then," he said with a soft, reflective chuckle. "Next thing I know, ol Purgstalls stuck his hand through my throat, then splattered my guts all over the far wall when _that_ didnt quite kill me."

"If he did something like that, how could you still be around to talk about it?"

"I honestly dont know," he said, shrugging and folding his arms as he leaned against the wall. He knew they wouldnt be getting into the Training Grounds for a while, but it was also important to clear the air between them. "Im pretty sure it had something to do with the Guyver, but damned if I know how or what happened."

"I thought you said that Purgstall _almost_ killed you," Sean said, now sounding like he didnt believe a word Ryan had just said. "From where Im standing, it doesnt look like there was any almost about it."

Ryan had to laugh after that one. "Well, I guess if I were in your place I wouldnt believe me much, either." He quickly sobered. "I _am_ telling you the truth, though. I know it might sound kind of out there, but I know what I remember. More than that, I know what I _felt_ that day. Purgstall stabbed me in the throat and then blasted me wide open."

"Right," Sean snapped, eyes narrowing. "So youre some kind of ghost now?

"I think Id be more like a clone, considering what actually _happened_ to me back there," he said, chuckling ruefully. "Or maybe some kind of animated corpse," he added, trying to interject at least _some _humor into what was otherwise a pretty damned grim conversation.

"Youll forgive me if I find that just a bit hard to swallow," Sean snapped.

"Oh, is that right?" Ryan drawled, swiftly becoming annoyed with Seans unreasoning skepticism. Given what he was facing, it didnt make much sense. "You mean the guy who takes on people who turn into grotesque, mutated creatureswhos fighting a corporation run by _super-powered mutants_has a hard time wrapping his head around someone who just came back from the dead?" He laughed mockingly. "Real balanced worldview youve got there, Sean."

Sean lunged, grabbing his collar and hauling him up into his direct line of sight. It forced Ryan up on tiptoe, and then his feet lost contact with the ground entirely. Sean was obviously trying for some kind of intimidation; he was failing completely, but Ryan had to at least give him points for the effort.

"You know, greenhorn, if you hadnt been such a _complete_ jackass I think I might have been willing to go a little easy on you." He stopped smiling, giving Sean a look not too far removed from outright contempt. "But not now. I think its _past_ time you learned just what it takes to fight this war."

"Bring it on," Sean snapped, roughly dropping him back to the floor and stomping dramatically up to the door controls.

Sean gave the clear impression that he would have kicked the doors open if that had been at all possible. Instead, he stomped into the room and glared at Ryan in passing. Not one to give a shit what idiots thought of him and Sean was definitely being an idiot Ryan smirked and made an obscene hand gesture in return. When they were fully inside the room, they stood fifteen feet apart, and Ryan decided that hed better clarify the terms of their battle.

No one could say that he didnt give his allies a chance, even when they were being complete morons.

"This isnt going to end, Sean! Even if you die, I can just wait you out!"

"Whats this obsession you have with dying?!" Sean demanded in return. "Are you suicidal or something?!"

"No," he called back. "Im just not stupid enough to think Im immortal. Even the Guyver cant _stop_ you from dying; all it can do is bring you back when you do."

"Guyver!" Sean was clearly tired of talking.

That was fine. "Guyver!" So was he.

Running at nearly his top ground-speed, he managed to make it through Seans hastily conceived defense. Extending both sets of Vibration Blades on his left arm, he stabbed Sean in the right flank with his wrist-blade, then used the blade on his forearm to block a swipe from Seans own Vibration Blade, twisting to slash Sean across the chest.

"First blood, Sean," he said calmly, dodging back and out of the way of any of the dark-blue Guyvers retaliatory attacks.

"Shut up," Sean snarled.

Ducking a shot from the Head Beam, Ryan was forced to start dodging more quickly as Sean started trying to punch him. Ducking another straight-punch, he grabbed Seans then over-extended arm and threw him to the ground.

"I guess it hadnt occurred to you yet that your opponents could do _that_ to you, huh, Sean?" he drawled.

"Shut up!"

Blocking another of Seans increasingly frequent punches, Ryan yanked his opponents arm forward and kicked him in the back of the knee. Sean dropped to the ground in a kneeling position, and Ryan turned the tables with a series of lightning-quick punches and kicks of his own. He may not have been a martial artist like Sean, but hed won his fair share of fightsfights against Zoanoids whod actually been _capable_ of killing him, so he thought that counted for something.

Seans experience seemed to be more geared towards tournament-style fighting, and that gave him at least some talent in blocking the kicks, so Ryan decided not to bother with that anymore. Firing the Head Beam and then slamming a brutal right hook into Seans face took the dark-blue Guyver completely by surprise.

"What the hell was that, Ryan?! Youre going to resort to using cheap tricks now?!"

He had to laugh at that. "Are you really stupid enough to think that our enemies are going to fight _fair_, Sean? Are you really that much of an idiot?!" He laughed again. "Remember, this is _Chronos_ were talking about!"


	22. Learn The Hard Way

As they continued to circle, both looking for an opening in their opponents defenses, Ryan smirked inwardly.

__

)Snake-head, you wanna take this one?(

)Sure thing, kid.(

Letting his "inner Zoanoid" have a bit more control, Ryan raised his right hand, and Elegen fired 2,070 volts into Seans midsection. Then, before his fellow Guyver could come after him for that, Ryan leaped into the air and hung poised, using the Gravity Controller to keep himself from falling back to _terra firma_. He could see Sean jerking his head back and forth _Chump doesnt even know how to use his hyper-sensors,_ he thought derisively then, finally, he looked up.

"Was starting to wonder when youd catch on," he scoffed.

"How the hell did you manage _that_?!" Sean demanded.

"Cmon, if I told you that, it would take all the fun out of things," he said, laughing.

"Get back down here! My Guyver cant-!"

"That isnt _my_ problem, Sean," he shot back, cutting the other Guyver off by the simple expedient of kicking him in the head.

Either hed learn to use the Guyver properly, or Chronos would run roughshod over this area. Ryan was going to do everything he could to ensure that the latter wouldnt be happening, even if he had to beat some knowledge into the other Guyvers head. Not a minute later, though, Sean himself managed to levitate.

__

)Well, I gotta admit that I didnt expect him to figure it out that_ quickly.(_

__

)You know, kid, we might not have that much of an advantage over him for much longer,( Elegen commented.

__

)Still, I dont think thats going to be too much of a problem. After all, I have more tricks up my sleeve than that greenhorn could ever think up.( He chuckled inwardly. _)Case in point.(_

Flying headlong at Sean before the other Guyver could mount anything more than the most rudimentary of defenses, Ryan clamped his hands down on the sides of Seans head. Elegen, obviously sensing what Ryan had in mind, let loose with 2,500 volts. Sean writhed in midair, screaming in agony.

__

)Technically, kid, that was my_ trick.(_

)Hey, whatever works,( he sent, with a mental chuckle. _)Besides, thats always been something of a team effort.(_

Sean shook his head, trying for the second time during this sadistic "training" session that Ryan had suggested to clear the pain-induced haze from his eyes. Hed never been grateful to the Guyver for trying to communicate with him before, but when it showed him the mental image of the Gravity Controller at his waist again, he found that he was starting to appreciate the gesture. Finally, though, Sean started to realize just what the Guyver wanted him to see: the Gravity Controller wasnt just a way to make the Guyver fly.

It was also a weapon in and of itself.

"Pressure Cannon!"

Having already seen the buildup of energy in Seans hands that had wordlessly given away the fact that his fellow Guyver had just discovered another weapon, Ryan had already made arrangements to be elsewhere.

__

)Pretty slick, the way he learned something that quickly without me being there to hold his hand.( Ryans mental tone was mocking, and Elegen could tell that he would have been smirking if he could have. _)Why dont we show him our variant, Snake-head?(_

Elegen chuckled as well as he could, even as sparks of electrical power began to crackle in the air between Ryans hands. It might not have been the best idea for them to attack an ally and fellow Guyver like this, but Ryan was right. It was high time this Barker kid learned just what kind of pain and horror he would have to deal with, now that he was facing the real power of Chronos.

Once the Thunder Pressure Cannon had been fully charged, Ryan flew back around to his original position: hovering in front of Sean. Before the other Guyver could do or say anything, though, Ryan hit him in the face with the full power of his altered Pressure Cannon.

"Youre really starting to piss me off, Ryan!" Sean shouted, shaking his head in obvious confusion.

"Oh, I am _so_ sorry," Ryan sneered with clear and unmistakable mockery. "And here I thought you had what it took to fight Chronos!"

"I do!" Sean shot back.

"Ill believe it when I see it!" he shouted, ramming his fist into Seans face and driving the other Guyver backwards through the air.

He saw Sean firing the Pressure Cannon three more times, and he was easily able to dodge and weave between the blasts.

"Youre not impressing anyone, Sean!" he drawled, laughing. "Just because you figured out how to use the Pressure Cannon doesnt mean anything if you cant hit the red side of a barn with it!"

"Thats the _broad_ side!"

"You couldnt hit _Darzerb_ if he was standing on your _feet_!" he said, laughing. "And you, of all people, should know how big a target _he_ is!"

Just like hed been expecting, Sean charged. Since he already knew how to deal with chumps who were out for his blood, Ryan began to dodge, weave, and attack in a random sort of non-pattern that he had perfected while dealing with the Zoanoids in Japan. His attacks were, for the most part, completely random.

It was a fighting style fluid enough that he could compensate for just about anything, and adaptive enough that Dr. Balkus himself would have had trouble predicting just what he was going to do next. Moving out of Seans hitting-range through the simple expedient of flying lower, Ryan closed on Sean and slammed a powerful uppercut into his opponents chin.

"You know, Sean? This is starting to get kind of boring," he said conversationally. "If you really dont have anything else to show me, we should just end this game right now."

"You think this is a _game_?!" Sean demanded, nearly shrieking.

"Well, its not like _Ive_ been putting any real effort into this," he scoffed.

"You mean youre just _playing around_?!"

"Pretty much," he said candidly. If there had been anyone present who had known the both of them, they might have said he sounded like Agito at that moment. "Would you like to know what its like to fight a Zoalord, Sean?"

"I told you, I already have," Sean snapped.

He laughed icily. "You know, the fact that you actually _believe_ that stupid load of crap could either be funny, or just pathetic."

"What the hell would _you_ know?!"

"Well, I know a hell of a lot more than you," he said, starting to become annoyed with Sean and his deliberate stupidity. It was one thing to risk your own life, but when people were depending on you, stupidity wasnt a luxury you could afford.

"You honestly expect me to believe that you could come back from the dead?" Sean scoffed. "Get real. In fact, Im not even sure that I buy the _rest _of what you said, either."

"Believe what you want," he said, vaguely noticing that strange, detached feeling that came over him when he got _really_ pissed off. "The worst it can do is get you and everyone you know killed by Chronos."


	23. Overburdened

Sean was starting to find Ryans complete lack of tone or inflection creepy. He comforted himself with the assumption that the younger Guyver was doing it solely to unnerve him. It was an assumption that he would come to regret shortly. Rushing the gray Guyver, Sean aimed to strike him while his guard was seemingly down.

Sho or Agito could have easily told him that this was a mistake.

Ryan moved, but only enough to avoid Seans punch. Grabbing the offending arm at the shoulder, Ryan extended his right wrist-blade and pulled Sean forward with his left arm, then severed Seans right arm at the shoulder. Sean, for his part, was barely aware of Ryans hand on his wrist up until the point where he had started slicing.

Ryan had moved _that_ fast.

Staring in morbid fascination at the slowly oozing wound where his right arm used to be, Sean had a brief moment to realize he was in shock. Then the pain hit. Biting back the howl of pure agony that he truly wanted to give voice to, Sean dragged his focus back to Ryan.

The other Guyver and he was really starting to _hate_ that Guyver was circling almost vulture-like, waiting for Sean to fall. He wasnt about to give that half-Zoanoid bastard the satisfaction of seeing him like that. With some amount of effort, Sean ignored the pain now radiating from his wound.

Ryan came around again, darting and weaving like some kind of crazed dragonfly whenever Sean tried to tag him with either the Head Beam or the Pressure Cannon, making it impossible for him to get a bead on the other Guyver. Ryan closed on him again, but before Sean could take advantage of their proximity, Ryan blasted him in the left eye with his Head Beam.

The compact, powerful infrared laser scorched his face, all but carving out his eye and even searing the socket itself. He was inwardly screaming in torment and ranting at his tormentor, but there was no way in hell that he was going to let Ryan to let _Elegen_ know now badly hed been rattled.

XxXxX

He and Elegen, working in the silence that had become habitual for them when the shit well and truly hit the fan, continued to harry Sean. He was going to pound the complacency right out of the older Guyvers head, no matter how much his erstwhile ally ended up hating him for it. The way he figured things, it was better he learned here, where the stakes were just having to regenerate for a bit, than out in the real world where it would end with people getting killed.

Or worse.

One of the more welcome side effects of their "condition" was that both of them were extremely empathic with one another, in addition to being able to flawlessly anticipate the others moves. Since the two of them also shared a body, and to some extent a mind, there wasnt really a way to use this strong empathic connection against them. What one felt, both felt; disagreements were something of an extreme rarity.

Sean was quick enough to dodge his kick, Ryan noted, but not quite quick enough to evade the follow-up punch.

"So, you still think this is some kind of game, Ryan?!"

"I dont know," he said with a soft chuckle. "Seems like fun and games to me."

"I _thought_ you said that you were going to show me what its like to fight a Zoalord!" Sean taunted; the moron just couldnt seem to keep from getting in over his head.

"If you really want to know, Ill show you," he said. "But are you sure youll be able to handle this, Sean?"

"Of course I am! Go ahead, show me!"

He would have rolled his eyes if hed had the proper facial muscles; Sean just didnt seem to know when to shut his mouth.

__

)Kids not really one for using his brain, is he?( Elegen sent, though he didnt seem to be expecting any kind of answer.

__

)Doesnt seem that way,( he sent back, more focused on his opponent than on anything else.

Since he didnt hear anything else, Ryan figured that the guy had gotten the point and decided to talk later. They were closer than most friends, partially out of necessity and partially because they both knew each other so well, and part of that was knowing when _not_ to talk. He was glad to see that Elegen had learned that.

Focusing his thoughts, Ryan activated what Elegen had suggested he call the Gigas Incision Field, just as Seans right fist came flying at him. The overlapping rings of yellow-tinged light caught the unenhanced-Guyvers arm midway between fist and elbow and performed just as their name suggested they would. As Seans neatly-severed arm fell toward the ground several feet below them, Ryan sighed.

"_That_ was the Incision Field, Sean," he flatly informed the other boy. "Not exactly a Zoalords Incision Wave, but unless youre even dumber than you act, I think you should get the basic idea."

He could already see the Guyver working to heal the damage that hed inflicted on Sean, and for a few moments he wondered if the other boy would start listening to what he had to say now that he had gotten some first-hand experience of the Guyvers regenerative powers. But probably notthe guy was starting to remind him a hell of a lot more of Agito than of Sho.

Not a good thing for someone he was trying to work with.

XxXxX

Sean, for his part, was indeed starting to reconsider his earlier disbelief of what Ryan had said. If the Guyver _was_ capable of regenerating lost limbs, and it certainly seemed like it was from what he was feeling, it wasnt that much of a leap in logic to assume that it could regenerate lost organs as well. And if the Guyver could do all of _that_

Well, then maybe Ryans crazy story wasnt quite as crazy as it had sounded at first.

XxXxX

Releasing his hold on the Giga Guyver, knowing that he wouldnt need it to deal with someone in Seans shape and certainly not someone who _fought_ like Sean Ryan felt the bone-deep, full-body numbness that preceded his form returning to its normal state. Just as he was about to get back to Seans lesson, though, everything started going crazy. And, by everything, he of course meant the alarm system.

Everyone who worked there in any capacity knew what those blaring alarms and wailing klaxons meant, and he at least knew enough about Chronos to know that the ACTF would need his help now that they were facing a battalion or two of _real_ Zoanoids. Maybe they thought they needed Seans too, but he wasnt really looking forward to constantly saving Seans ingrate ass once they were in combat.

"Ryan, lets go," Sean said, as they both landed on the ground.

Nodding as they sprinted for the doors, he fell into step behind Sean. He was already wondering just how hairy this thing was going to get; wondering what models theyd be facing; and hoping there werent going to be any Hypers in the group.

"Good to see you boys again," Atkins said, looking over from where he was seemingly giving last-minute instructions to a fairly large group of men and women in black ACTF fatigues. "Glad to see you two managed to make it out of there without inflicting any lasting damage."

That had probably been aimed at him. "Yeah, whatever. Wheres the enemy?"

"Just two meters outside our primary perimeter. And we aim to keep them that way," Atkins said. "There are twenty of them on the ground, but our spotters have reported the appearance of some kind of flying, birdlike Zoanoids that dont appear in our files."

"Id lay you fairly good odds that those are Valvatos," he spat. "So, how many of the flying Zoafreaks did your guys spot?"

"They counted seven of them. You said the model was called Valvatos? There are five brownish-yellow Valvatos, and two of them have an odd, metallic bluish-silver coloring."

__

What the hell? "Okay, those I dont know," he admitted. "Still, if Chronos modified them that heavily, then its pretty damned obvious theyre Bad News."

"We dont have time to just stand around discussing things," Sean said tightly. "We all need to get out there and fight, right now!"

"The kid has a point, sir," one of the other soldierssomeone Ryan thought he would have recognized if hed been paying more attentionsaid.

"Right," Atkins said, nodding curtly. "Get out to the front-lines now, you two. The rest of you, follow me."

There was a loud, collective shout of "Yes, sir!" following that order that neither he nor Sean joined in. He didnt really know about Sean, but Ryan still considered himself a fully autonomous agent. He just worked for the ACTF since they seemed to need the help, whether a lot of them would admit it or not.

As the two of them ran, then eventually flew, through the corridors of the ACTFs temporary base, Ryan couldnt help but take note of the movements of the people below them. Soldiers were rushing to the battle-lines, while repair crews worked with single-minded purpose to fix the damage that had been done to the bases interior. Each repair crew seemed to have a guard, something he hoped that they wouldnt need.

He could hear cheers and shouts of acknowledgement from the ACTF soldiers as the two of them flew overhead, and with the way people kept waiting for them while they opened doors to get out of the base, he got the feeling that they were happy to see them. Not like they had any reason not to be, though, with the kind of things they were facing.

Still, it was nice to be wanted.


	24. Not Giving Up

The Guyver named Sean Barker had been the light and hope of the ACTF for just a bit over a year by this time, he knew. Now that there was a second Guyver in their ranks, he and the rest of the soldiers of the Anti Chronos Task Force felt even better about their chances. As far as he was concerned, Guyvers were immortal, unbeatable, implacable foes of the Chronos Corporation and their army of freakish Zoanoids.

Even this kid, weird as he so obviously was, would be given the chance to prove himself.

There were very few people on the Firebases staff who knew that Ryan Crouger was actually a hybrid of human and Hyper Zoanoid, and almost all of them were a part of the medical staff. Only he and Captain Drake Shepherd, out of all the non-medical corps, had been briefed on that and they had been sworn to secrecy along with the medicos. Old Atkins had been concerned that some people might be prejudiced against the kid if they found out that he somehow had the full gene sequence of what the kid himself had identified as an "Elegen-type Hyper Zoanoid" in addition to a full, human genetic code.

What would have _really_ put them offat least the ones that hated any type of Zoanoid with a passionwas the fact that the mind of that particular Elegen-type Hyper Zoanoid was still present in the kids body. The thing had even asked to be called "Elegen", as if that was the name of the individual rather than just a model of Hyper Zoanoid.

It was a strange request, but Falman tried to take it seriously; Ryan and Elegen both seemed to.

XxXxX

Finally outside, Ryan landed next to Sean and took stock of the situation. There were ten of those wimp-Zoanoids that he and Sean had faced earlier, along with five of what looked like Japanese Zoanoids, and five more of a type that he didnt quite recognize. Looking up in the sky, he saw the squad of Valvatos. The ones that had been modified were a fair bit faster than the ones he had tangled with before.

Still, he was nonetheless the best person to take them down.

__

+Ill take the ones in the air,+ he said calmly.

__

+Why?+ Sean asked. _+I thought you said you hadnt seen anything like those blue Zoanoids before.+_

+Because, like it or not, I have the most experience dealing with those birdbrained Zoafreaks,+ he said, using his Gravity Controller to fly up to meet the feathered pests.

__

+All right,+ Sean said. _+Me and the others will handle the ones on the ground.+_

Nodding in spite of the fact that he wasnt sure if Sean could see him or not, he turned his full attention to the Valvatos and the nastier-looking ones that were leading the charge.

__

+Oh, and Ryan?+

Sean seemed to be waiting on his response, so Ryan figured that he might as well get it over with. _+What?+_

+Thanks.+

Whatever hed been subconsciously been prepping for, it sure hadnt been anything like that. _+For what?+_

+You know, for teaching me more about the Guyver. I figure it was better that I learned that stuff in a controlled battle with you than while Im fighting these freaks,+ Sean said. _+By the way, after weve dealt with the Zoanoids, do you think you could tell me what that giga thing was?+_

+The Giga Unit? Sure. Hey, you remind me and Ill even tell you about the Gigantic.+

+The gigantic what?+

+Sean, the Zoanoids?+ he reminded gently.

__

+Right.+

Turning his attention back to the battle that he had claimed for himself, trusting Sean to do the same, Ryan faced the foremost of the Valvatos. The ones that had been modified he still wasnt quite sure what to think about. The first thing that he noticed, however, was that the entire group was retreating.

Hed almost been expecting that from the standard models, since without a Zoalord to command them, they were likely to remember the way hed torn through their ranks like tissue paper even when he wasnt quite on his A-game. Still, those modified Valvatos definitely looked tougher than their "normal" counterparts.

Hed really expected _them_ to put up more of a fight.

__

)Well, this is new,( he sent, not quite sure how to feel.

__

)You said it, kid,( Elegen sent back, his mental tone making it clear that he would have been gawking if hed been in any way capable of it. _)Maybe theyre finally starting to take that call-sign of yours seriously.(_

)You really think they might be buying into that whole "scourge of Chronos" deal?(

)Its the most reasonable explanation I _can think of.(_ Elegens mental tone implied a shrug.

__

)All right, I think I can work with that.(

Resisting the urge to crack his knuckles, Ryan flew after the retreating Valvatos. Catching up to one of the yellowish-brown, standard models, Ryan shattered its skull with a punch on his way past. The others all flew faster, with the strangely modified Valvatos in the lead.

Grabbing the wings of another of the normal Valvatos, he tore them off and blasted the things head open with his Pressure Cannon. That left him with a grand total of fivethree more "normals" and the two that had been futzed with to do god-knew-what. The next Valvatos he caught up with, another of the normals, ended up blasted wide open with the Pressure Cannon, and the fourth ended up sliced into little bits and pieces with Ryans elbow-mounted Vibration Blades.

The last of the normal-types tried to outfly him, but since it wasnt any faster or more agile than the ones that hed already dealt with, it had to know that it wasnt going anywhere. Ryan blew its skull open with the Head Beam as he passed, then turned his attention to the modified Valvatos.

He fully expected to face some more strenuous opposition, but if anything, those Valvatos for all their obvious modifications seemed a hell of a lot easier for him to deal with. Of course, this was mostly owing to the fact that hed been psychologically preparing himself for a hard-fought battle against opponents with unknown but most likely extensive powers. With all of that, it really wasnt such a surprise that hed beaten them so easily.

He could hardly be expected to know that there was a much deeper game in progress.

__

)This is starting to get a little disappointing,( Ryan sent, looking over the disintegrating Zoanoid corpses as they fell.

__

)Yeah. I really expected better of Chronos. But, I guess we found out why Barker didnt take them seriously. And why he wasnt willing to believe you had been killed a couple of times,( Elegen mused. _)I dont think Barkers even been killed once.(_

)Yeah, and I really doubt that its because of any innate survival skills he has, either,( he sent. _)I hope I dont start losing _my_ edge out here, too.(_

)I doubt that that would be a big issue for you, kid,( Elegen sent, clearly trying to be reassuring. _)But, if youre really all that worried about it, you could always ask Aptom to be your sparring partner sometime.(_

)Am I just imagining things, or did you just make a suggestion in reference to Aptom that didnt_ involve firecrackers, bottle rockets, a bazooka, and some positions that even the Kama Sutra hasnt thought up yet?(_

)Contrary to what you might think of me, kid, Im not one to hold a grudge till hell freezes over. That was more Zektors thing. You and I both know how strong Aptom is, so itd pretty much stand to reason that he could help you keep your edge here.(

)Well, thats very big of you,( Ryan sent.

__

)Im a big Hyper Zoanoid,( Elegen sent back, with obvious levity.

__

)Youre a mook.(

Mental snickers followed this statement, coming from the both of them.


	25. Instruments of Destruction

Using the Gravity Controller to lower himself back to the ground, Ryan blasted a Ramochis that had been charging headlong at one of the ACTFs gun emplacements. Then, once the things attention was fully fixed on him, he sprang forward and impaled the thing on his wrist-mounted Vibration Blades.

__

+Hey, Sean?+

+What is it, Ryan?+

+Is this the kind of opposition you usually face from Chronos over here?+

+Yeah, this is pretty much how they operate,+ Sean paused. _+At least as far as I ever knew. I get the feeling that things are a bit different on your side of the war.+_

+Youd be right about that, Sean,+ he said, smashing a Gregoles head, then turning to bisect a retreating Ramochis from crown to crotch. _+In fact, this is the only time that I havent lost at least a limb, or a few pints of blood, after Ive been tangling with Zoanoids,+_ he continued, all the while using both his eyes and the Guyvers hyper-sensors to search for any remaining Zoanoids.

__

+Its like that, huh?+

+Yeah, Sean, its like that.+

)Youre still not used to the Zoanoids here actually running away_ from you, are you, kid?( _Elegen asked, evidently picking up on Ryans uneasiness.

__

)No, Im not,( Ryan sent. _)Something doesnt smell right here. This is all way too easy.(_

)Hate to have to agree with that one, kid.( Elegen seemed to sigh. _)But when youre right, youre right. Ive never known Chronos to pass up an opportunity to pound their enemies into submission with Hyper Zoanoids, and besides that pair of armored birdbrains we took out, I havent seen a one.(_

)Wait, you mean those things were Hyper Zoanoids? How could you tell?(

)All Hyper Zoanoids have a certain look to them; theyre always made better than their Standard counterparts. Those weird-colored Valvatos definitely fit the bill. I could see they had some kind of armor, even if I couldnt tell you just what it was they were meant to do.(

Ryan sighed aloud. _)Not a blip on the sensors, either. Normally Id be grateful not to have to spend extra time in the armor regrowing my arms and legs, but this whole thing just isnt sitting right.(_

)I know what you mean. Chronos has got to be up to something; theyre just not this clumsy,( Elegen gave the impression that he would have been nodding if hed been in control of their body at the moment.

The ACTF had pretty well finished mopping up the remaining Zoanoids by the time he and Sean met back up again. He was looking around, still tense and waiting for an ambush.

__

)Do you think we should tell him about this, kid?(

)No,( he said, with a mental shake of his head, dismissing his Guyver a few seconds after Sean had done the same. _)You heard him. And, I dont know, maybe this really _is_ how Chronos operates in this part of the world.(_

)Cmon kid, you cant really believe that.(

)I guess not,( he responded, sighing softly as Sean started towards him. _)But for his sake, I might pretend to.(_

)Whys that?(

)Well, look at him. He looks so happy. He doesnt have the constant possibility of another Chronos attack hanging over his head.(

)Youre planning to take the weight for him the way you do for Fukamachi.( It wasnt a question, but Elegen answered it anyway. _)Youre a good kid, but dont overdo it. Even with the Guyver, you cant be everywhere at once.(_

)No. But with the Giga, I can come pretty close,( he said, with a mental chuckle.

XxXxX

"Ryan! Hey, Ryan!" Jogging up to the younger boy his fellow Guyver he grinned; it had been a total rout and slaughter, even in spite of the fact that hed been worried about the role those new Zoanoids were likely to play. "Come on, the rest of the guys have dinner ready for us."

"Coming," Ryan said, with a startled sort of nod.

"Is something wrong? You looked a bit spacey back there," he said, as the redhead fell into step next to him.

"Nothings _wrong_," Ryan said, rolling his shoulders and stretching a bit as they made their way back to the compound. "I was just talking to myself."

"What were you and Elegen talking about?" he asked, having already gotten used to Ryans euphemistic way of speaking when it came to what he was now.

"Nothing in particular," Ryan said, shrugging. "We were just shooting the breeze."

Ryan, who was looking toward the compound, clearly missed the look Sean gave him. There was something in the way Ryan had been speaking that made him feel as if the younger boy hadnt been entirely truthful. Turning his own attention back to where they were headed, Sean resolved to reserve judgment and keep his guard up.

Once they had returned to the ACTFs temporary base of operations, he and Ryan were greeted by cheers and thunderous applause. More than a few backslaps were dealt out, and Ryan was even given a kiss on the cheek from Tara Weston, whod been manning one of the gun emplacements. When they finally made it to the mess hall, Sean found himself being greeted very enthusiastically by Cori.

"Well, if it isnt the men of the hour," Falman called jovially. "Come on over here and check out this spread. You two must be famished."

"Thanks, Falman," Ryan said, with no trace of the earlier maybe-insincerity hed displayed earlier. "It all looks great."

A fair number of the huge tables in the mess hall had been laid out buffet-style. ACTF soldiers and techniciansthose who werent currently on duty somewhere elsewere lining up around them to serve themselves. No one there was stupid enough to believe that this was anything more than a temporary victory, especially after the things Ryan had told them.

But with the younger Guyver on their side, Sean could at least believe that there was an end to the battle, like a light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

XxXxX

Back at the Chronos L.A. building, Edward Caerleon was just emerging from a state that most Zoalords referred to as an "observing trance". It was a state that all but the most powerful telepaths that is, Dr. Balkus and Lord Alkanphel had to endure to some greater or lesser degree when they commanded large numbers of Zoanoids in battle, especially Sleeper Units in any form. Those types needed to be controlled remotely to prevent them from deserting.

Edward breathed deeply, bringing his awareness fully back to his own body. It was somewhat disorienting for him to inhabit the mind of a Zoanoid when it was killed, more so when it happened multiple times.

Looking up, Edward saw that Waferdanos had entered the room.

"So, is it finished?" the ancient Zoalord asked.

"Yes," he said, turning his full attention on the hirsute form of the Third Zoalord. "Every one of the Zoanoids sent has been killed."

"Good," Waferdanos said.

Edward himself would not have used that particular word to describe this battle, since it had cost them a fair amount of their Sleeper Units in the area. Given that the forces inside this base were brainless cannon fodder _at best_, Edward did not think that the loss of the Sleeper Units was any great thing.

"Was it your idea to bring Sleeper Units into that battle?"

"Yes," Waferdanos rumbled. "I wanted to see how the humans would react if they were forced to fight those that they considered innocent."

"I was not made aware of that," Edward said, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"I would have thought that the boy would have already told you, Edward," Waferdanos said, sounding mildly confused. "I gave the boy all the information he would need."

Edward, while he was of the opinion that Ingriam Mirabilis was as loyal as his father, was fully aware that the child was somewhat uneasy around him. He did not fully understand why, but in the end, Edward decided to simply disregard that piece of information. Ingriam would have to learn to cope with such things on his own, and the sooner the better.

"I will have to speak with the child about his propensity for disregarding orders from his superiors," he muttered.

"Dont be too hard on the boy, Edward," Waferdanos entreated. "Even you yourself must admit that you _can_ be rather intimidating, especially to someone Ingriams age."

It was not truly his concern whether Ingriam found him intimidating or not. However, as Waferdanos seemed to be rather fond of Chronos new Ninth Zoalord, he would not pursue the matter any farther.


	26. Falling Apart

The dinner break had pretty much wound down, though there were still a few people sitting around and eating, mostly those that hadnt had the chance earlier. Ryan, having finished his food and drink, left the table hed been sitting at. He needed to make a quick pit-stop, and then he wanted to get out of the ACTF compound for awhile. He was starting to feel a bit like a caged animalone in a very nice zoo, but caged nonetheless.

Once hed finished in the bathroom, Ryan slowly made his way out of the ACTFs center of operations. The place was a maze in certain areas; hed noticed that when hed first been lead around on his orientation tour. After about twenty minutes of determined walking, Ryan made it out of the important areas of the base. After that, it only took him another thirty minutes at a brisk walk to make his way to the main entrance of the compound.

Speaking briefly with the guards on shift, Ryan got permission leave the compound. Assuring them that he would remember to check back in when he returned, Ryan waved to the soldiers as he left.

__

)Feels good to be out in the open air again, doesnt it, kid?(

)What would you know about open air, Snake-head?( he ribbed gently._ )You live in my head.(_

)Youre so mean to me,( Elegen mock-pouted.

Outside the compound now, Ryan looked around at the area for only the second time. He couldnt help but admire the ACTF for choosing an abandoned warehouse for their forward base in this area. There were plenty of them in this part of the city, so Chronos couldnt realistically hope to check all of them. And even if they did, the ACTFs Espionage and Counterintelligence Divisions were experts at starting rumors and spreading false leads.

The ACTF also had several decoy bases, filled with explosives that could be triggered remotely. The obvious advantage of that kind of setup, aside from costing whatever Zoanoids Chronos could send after them precious time and mobility, was that it would inevitably bring various firefighters and police scrambling to the scene. Sure, Chronos would probably be able to bribe, bluff, and/or otherwise manage to connive their way out of the situation, but anything that caused them harm and inconvenience was a good thing as far as he was concerned.

Of course, Ryan would have been the first to admit that he was pretty biased on that particular subject.

As he blended into the crowd approaching the city, Ryan wondered how many of the people he was passing were Sleeper Units. Probably too many.

He sighed; it didnt do anyone any good to think about those things. They were facts that couldnt be changed, no matter how much he or Sho might wish otherwise. Sticking his into his pockets, Ryan kept walking. The city was full of Zoanoids, this one and every other like it. Chronos was winning by sheer numbers alone.

__

)Getting kind of morose there, arent you, kid? Its not as bad as you make it out to be sometimes.

)I know that,( he sent back, with the mental equivalent of a sigh. _)Its just really hard to believe were doing any good sometimes. All Chronos ever seems to do is advance; theyre conquering more and more territory that we cant get back. And now it looks like theyre speeding up.(_

)The ACTFs going to start turning that all around,( Elegen sent._ )Youll see.(_

)How can you be so sure of that?( he asked dully.

__

)Because they have something to fight for. Because they have some of the most ingenious support crew Ive seen in a long time. Because theyre humans, and humans are the most devious, most dangerous, most tenacious bunch of bastards Ive ever had to deal with. Yourself included, of course.(

)Yeah. Well, I guess being the ultimate living weapon does_ have its advantages,(_ he sent, laughing inwardly.

It only took a second for Elegen to join him. Once Ryan had gotten over his funk, at least until the next time that he really started _thinking_ about the enormity of the tasks ahead, he turned his attention back to the city.

That was when Ryan started to get the feeling that he was being followed. Turning with the utmost casualness, so he wouldnt let his tail know that he was onto them, he pretended to be looking for something else. Finding an ice cream shop, Ryan smirked. That would work just as well as any other place, with an added bonus or two.

Walking casually inside, Ryan headed for the front counter, glad hed had the foresight to bring some cash.

"Hey, red, what can I get for you?" one of the cashiers asked in a gruff, but for the most part friendly tone.

"Ill have a Butterscotch dip-cone and a chicken strip basket," he said, getting a strong whiff of fries that made his mouth water in anticipation.

"All right," the man said, smiling. "Well have your chicken strips ready for you in just a minute. Heres your cone," he added, handing a freshly dipped ice cream cone over.

"Thanks," he said, taking it. "How much does this all come out to?"

"Never mind that," another man said, coming up from behind. "This ones on me."

The main in question handed his credit card over to the cashier. Ryan turned, looking back at the man who had offered to buy him food completely at random. He fully intended to thank the guy, then ask him if it was a habit of his to walk into random shops and buy people stuff.

__

)The hell?! Whats he_ doing here?(_ Elegen demanded.

__

)Whats with you?(

)Thats Zancrus.(

)Zancrus_?!(_

)Yeah,( Elegen sent grimly. _)Zancrus in human form.(_

)Well, this_ is distinctly not good.(_

The man rather the Hyper Zoanoid Zancrus was just taking his credit card back from the cashier. Ryan would have cursed his own lack of attention, but he had bigger fish to fry at the moment. As Zancrus nodded towards one of the tables near the far wall of the restaurant, Ryan took a moment to study the Hyper Zoanoid.

He had to admit that Zancrus human form wasnt all that impressivecertainly nothing like Elegens memories of Zektor. In fact, the similarity between Zektor and Zancrus was purely in terms of their hair color and the fact that both of them were Hyper Zoanoids.

Zancrus was kind of short in human form, with a wirier musculature than Ryan had ever seen on a Hyper Zoanoid. Of course, given how his Hyper Zoanoid form was built, Ryan supposed he really shouldnt have been as surprised by that fact as he initially had been. Still, when he thought of Hyper Zoanoids, "big" was pretty much the first thing that came to mind.

Messy black hair fell to just above the base of the Hyper Zoanoids neck, and while it wasnt quite a windblown storks nest, it did come pretty damn close. Zancrus had also chosen to hide his eyes behind a pair of dark, reddish-brown sunglasses, which seemed to be a staple of Chronos goons. Following Zancrus over to the booth he was heading for, Ryan made up his mind to wait and see just how this whole thing played out.

He partly wanted to satisfy his own curiosity, of which he had plenty, but starting a fight in a crowded place like this would end up getting scads of innocent people maimed, traumatized, or killed. No, it was better if he didnt provoke Zancrus into a fight.

At least, not until they were both safely far away from here. Besides, starting a fight in a Dairy Queen was something that Ryan could barely even think about without wanting to burst out laughing from the sheer weirdness of the idea. Once he and Zancrus were seated at their table, Ryan began to eat his ice cream cone in earnest so it wouldnt end up melting all over his hands.

That ended up occupying a fair amount of his time, and of course left him with a pleasantly sweet taste in his mouth.

"So, whats _your_ angle?" he asked, giving Zancrus a sidelong glance.

"What?"

"Why did you go out of your way to buy me food, considering the circumstances?" he asked warily.

"What circumstances?" Zancrus asked, with obviously faked innocence.

"Oh come on, bug face. Im a Guyver, youre a Zoanoid. Put us together and we almost always end up beating the living hell out of each other. Your bosses all hate me. So _why_ in the name of all things sweet and fruity did you come out here to buy _me_ a late snack?"

"Sweet and fruity?" Zancrus asked with a hastily suppressed laugh.

"Will you just answer the freaking question already?" he demanded, irked.

"All right, I will," Zancrus said, smiling with the air of someone why was about to give out some supremely important information. "Truth is, Red, I admire you."

"In what sense?" He paused to think for a minute, then cringed slightly. "Unless its some kind of weird, squicky thing that I really, really wouldnt want to know about. In that case, please feel free to leave me in the dark."

Zancrus laughed louder, and some of the other patrons turned to look their way. Both Guyver and Hyper Zoanoid ignored them, and they soon turned back to contemplating their own meals.

"Youve got a real mouth on you, Red. Thats what I like most. Well, that and the fact that youve somehow managed to put up with those pathetic ACTF losers for even this long."

Someone announced that order 82 was ready for pickup. Ryan, having been too deeply absorbed in his conversation with Elegen to take much note of what had been going on around him when hed finished ordering his meal, continued to stare at Zancrus as if the Hyper Zoanoid had just confessed to having a secret love of frilly pink dresses.

"Let me get that for you, Red. Least I can do."

With that, Zancrus rose from his seat and headed over to the pick-up counter. Taking the order that Ryan had made, he headed back to their shared table with it.

"Eat up, Red." Zancrus grinned as Ryan picked up one of the chicken strips and took a bite. "After all, we cant have one of our best double agents going hungry."

Hearing those words, Ryan was so absorbed in trying to both avoid choking on his food or performing a spit-take that he didnt even notice a certain patron slamming their hands down on the table in front of them and storming out the door. But Zancrus did, and he smirked slightly in passing.


	27. Headstrong

All in all, the plan was going perfectly.

"What the hell kind of drugs are you _on_, bug face?!" Ryan demanded, once hed managed to stop struggling with the food in his throat.

A few of the other patrons turned to stare at them again, but Ryan didnt care, and Zancrus only continued to smile mysteriously.

"Enjoy your food, Red," Zancrus said, clapping Ryan on the right shoulder as he got up and left.

Ryan sat, stunned.

__

)Would you happen to have even the slightest idea just what the fuck that was all about?( Ryan asked as he picked up the chicken strip hed started eating before Zancrus had dropped his bombshell.

__

)Not even an inkling,( Elegen sent, with a mental headshake.

__

)I just thought that since you worked with that guy, you might be able to-(

)Translate for you when he starts talking out his ass?(

)Thats the basic idea, yeah,( he sent back.

__

)Im not as fluent in crazy-talk as I used to be, kid,( Elegen sighed mentally, becoming morose. _)Besides, the Zancrus I knew was eaten by Aptom a long time ago. This new one might act just like him, but(_

)Its not really the same, is it?( Ryan asked as he picked up another of his chicken strips and bit into it with a satisfying crunch.

__

)Youd think that, wouldnt you? Youd think that my only problem would be the fact that he looks so much like Zancrus without actually being anything like the guy I used to know.(

)So what is_ your problem?(_ he asked, picking up and eating a handful of fries.

__

)Mines just the opposite.(

)You care to run that by me one more time, maybe?(

)The guy we were just talking to, he was_ Zancrus. Just like all those other Elegens we used to keep running into. Thats how I could help you to beat them so easily: because I knew how they thought, and how they would react in certain situations. They were all _me_.(_ Elegen seemed to sigh. _)I just wonder how many more of me Chronos has in their ranks. And, sometimes I wonder Well, nevermind what I wonder.(_

)Cmon, tell me,( he urged, absent-mindedly eating another handful of fries.

__

)I just wonder if Im the original, sometimes,( Elegen paused. _)Or, since Im probably not, I wonder who the original was, and what hed think if he ever found out what Chronos has been using his body for.(_

)Probably sue them for defamation of character,( he chuckled.

__

)Come on, Ryan, I was trying to be serious. Youve got to have times when you wonder about this kind of thing, what with the Guyver and all.(

Without another word, he returned his full attention to the outside world and started back in on his meal. The crunch of batter-dipped chicken and the quieter sounds of french fries being munched were the only things that occupied his attentionat least until Elegen started talking again.

__

)Did I offend you somehow, Ryan? Because Im sorry if I did.(

)You didnt,( he said, trying to be reassuring. _)Why would you think you did?(_

)You just cut me off so suddenly. I thought you might have been angry about that last comment Id made.(

)I didnt know that that was meant to be a leading statement,( he said earnestly. _)I just thought the conversation was over.(_

)Oh. I didnt think youd take it that _way.(_

)Then it was meant to be a leading statement,( he concluded, picking up his second-to-last chicken strip and biting into it.

__

)Yeah.(

)Leading to what?( he asked, continuing to eat his meal while he waited for Elegens response.

__

)I was just wondering( Elegen paused for a moment, seeming to gather himself. _)If you had the chance to do it all over againyou know, the whole finding the Guyver and merging with it routinewould you?(_

)You do_ remember that I merged with the Guyver pretty much by accident, right?(_

Elegen laughed mentally. _)I dont think anyone but Makashima merged with a Guyver on purpose.(_ Then, he became serious again. _)But really, Ryan, think about it. If you knew what you would find when you fell into that cave, would you still have made the same choice?(_

)Id like to think so,( he sent. _)I mean, Im doing something to help save the world here, even if most people dont really know about that. I think if you asked any of the people back at that ACTF forward-base, youd probably get the same answer.(_

)Yeah, I thought youd see it that way.(

)Well, how do you_ see it?( _he asked, idly chewing on some fries.

__

)Thats the problem for me, Ryan. I dont know if Chronos ever gave me, or any of my clones for that matter, any choice in the matter,( Elegen sent morosely.

__

)So pretend. Say you were_ the original; would you agree to be turned into a Hyper Zoanoid, or would you tell Chronos that they could go fuck themselves?(_

Elegen sniggered mentally. _)I dont think Id be nearly as colorful as you were about it, kid.(_ He paused for a moment, clearly thinking. _)But youre right; I probably _would_ tell them to take their offer and shove it. Of course, Id probably end up getting kidnapped anyway, so maybe its a moot point.(_ Elegen sighed, seeming to deflate at those words.

__

)At least you know what youd have done if things had been different. That has to count for something,( he sent, trying to be comforting.

__

)Yeah, I guess youre right about that. Thanks, Ryan.(

Looking down at the empty cardboard basket that had once held his food, Ryan sighed himself.

__

)Come on, we should get back to the base. Sean and the others are probably wondering where weve been for so long.(

Taking Elegens silence as an affirmative, Ryan quickly cleaned up the trash at his table. After a quick trip to the garbage can, he left the Dairy Queen and headed back toward the ACTFs forward-base. Digging his Walkman and headphones out of his jacket pocket, he slapped the headphones over his ears and turned the music up just enough to drown out the noise of the street.

Anyone who didnt know just who and what Ryan Crouger was would probably have dismissed him as just another teenager out on the town at that point. He certainly looked the part with his nondescript light blue jeans, darker blue t-shirt, and battered, faded denim jacket to complete the outfit. Any of the Zoanoids that had somehow managed to avoid combat duty when there were Guyvers in the area (a very low number under the circumstances) might have thought that hed have made an easy target.

Ryan however, like all Guyvers that had been activated long enough, had begun to develop a sixth sense for Zoanoids when they had come within a certain range. But what held true in the _presence_ of Zoanoids did not hold quite as true in a situation with normal humans. When the small gang of toughs started following him, for no other reason than that he looked like an easy mark, Ryan barely noticed them.

It wasnt until he felt the wind from the punch one of them had thrown that Ryan ducked, knowing then that he wasnt alone anymore.

"Dont you losers have anything better to do?!" he demanded as he spun around to confront them.

A quick headcount revealed six of them, ranging in age from teens like him to a few years younger. They also varied in build, from a huge bruiser at the back of the group to a guy near the front who looked almost like a strong wind could snap him like a matchstick. The nominal leader or at least the guy standing in front looked like he wasnt all that much older than Ryan himself.

He was grinning; not a good sign under the circumstances.

"Not at the moment!" the blond taunted.

The six charged. Ducking a swing from a fairly average-looking guy, Ryan slammed his fist into the big bruisers gut.


	28. Rise

"Anyone else in the mood for a shock?!" Elegen demanded, sparks of electricity dancing in Ryans hands.

__

)I thought I was the one who was supposed to be the one making bad puns,( Ryan sent with a slight mental wince at the sight of his singed fingertips.

__

)Sorry to be horning in on your shtick, kid.(

)Just make sure you dont keep doing it. I wouldnt want people to think Im losing my touch.(

Leaping out of the way of another one of the bruisers headlong charges, Ryan kicked another guy this one with spiked brown hair, who was fairly normal-sized in the chest. He felt a sharp tingle running down the length of his right leg, as Elegen tried to shock the guy.

__

)These shoes are rubber-soled, Snake-head. I_ could have told you that that wasnt going to work,( _he snickered.

__

)Hey, I forgot. Heat of battle and all that,( Elegen shot back.

__

)Well, watch what you do to my feet, you yutz. I need those for walking.(

)Yeah, yeah. Ill keep that in mind.(

A palm-heel strike to the girls gut acted as the perfect conduit for another of Elegens stun-bolts, and this one put her out of the fight and down for the count. The scrawny guy came running at them again as Ryan smirked and Elegen gave the mental impression of cracking his knuckles.

__

)Doesnt really know what hes getting into here, does he?( Elegens grin was obvious from his mental tone.

__

)No, not a clue.( Ryans smirk widened as he thought this. _)But then again, thats not really _our_ problem, is it?(_

)Nope.(

By the time Ryans focus had come back to the outside world, the scrawny martial artist guy had cleared almost all of the distance between them. A leap enabled Ryan to cover the rest. Clamping his right hand onto the kids face, he felt Elegen send 70 volts slamming into the guy. The scrawny martial artist, reeling around blinded, was helped to lean against the far wall of the alley by the kid with spiky brown hair.

"Hold it! Hold it!" the blond shouted, holding his arms out as if to push the two sides away from each other.

As all of the people who had been attacking themthose who were still conscious to do so, at leastbacked away slowly, Ryan let himself calm down a bit.

__

)You think youll be able to handle the rest on your own?( Elegen asked.

__

)Yeah. Thanks, though. You know, for all your help.(

)Not a problem, kid. It was actually kind of fun,( Elegen sent, as he retreated back to the periphery of their shared mind.

"Just what the hell are you?!" the blond demanded.

He smirked. "Would you believe Im a Hoktar?"

He hadnt been quite sure just what kind of a reaction that would get, but when both the bruiser and the scrawny guy started laughing, he grinned, realizing people had actually gotten the reference.

"Thats a good one, Thunderbolt. Didnt know there was anyone else in this hole who liked that show," the big bruiser said.

The leader raised his eyebrows at them; Ryan just grinned wider.

"Yeah. You may be a little weird and crazy not to mention those freaky powers of yours but youve got one hell of a lot of good moves." The scrawny guy pulled himself away from the wall as he said this.

"Hey, Sci-fi? You sure youre all right?" the leader asked.

The scrawny guy, evidently called "sci-fi" for some bizarre reason or other, nodded and kept blinking.

"Still seeing stars sometimes, but yeah, Im feeling better. Mostly, anyway," "Sci-fi" said.

"All right then," the leader Ryan personally wondered if he had some goofy nickname like the others said, nodding.

All of the people who had, up until that point, been trying to pound Ryan into the pavement were suddenly grinning at him like he was their new best friend. It was _weird_.

"Well, were always on the lookout for new blood, and with those freaky powers of yours, Im sure youll manage to make a place for yourself with us," the leader said, grinning at him in a distinctly inviting manner. "So what do you say to that, Thunderbolt?"

__

)It may be just my imagination here, kid, but I think you just got yourself a new nickname.(

)Well, at least its better than "carrot-top". I think I would have had to punch someone if theyd started calling me that_,( _he sent.

"Hey, Thunderbolt, you feeling all right?"

"Huh?" he queried, startled out of his reverie. "Oh, yeah. Im fine, just thinking."

"About that offer I just made?" the blond asked, sounding hopeful, but looking like he wanted to play things cool.

"Yeah, about that," he said, not wanting to get into the specifics of his condition.

__

)Among other things,( Elegen sent with a mental snicker.

__

)Quiet, you.(

"So, whadaya say?" the leader asked. "You wanna join up?"

"I dont think so. At least, not right now," he amended, wanting to be diplomatic; hed been beaten on by these guys one time too many. "I have somewhere I have to be at the moment."

"Oh, really?" the leader asked, in a tone that could have been interpreted as sarcastic if one was so inclined.

Ryan wasnt. "Yeah. Its not exactly home, but Ive got a place to stay."

"All right, Thunderbolt. But, if you ever need a home away from home, you just come back out here."

"How would _that_ help me find you guys?" he asked, mildly confused.

"It wont," the leader said calmly, "but it will help _us_ to find _you_."

"Fair enough, I guess," he said, nodding. "I guess I might see you guys around somewhere, maybe. So take care of yourselves, all right?"


	29. If You Don’t Know Me By Now

"We will," the leader said, and the others nodded.

"You just make sure that _you_ dont end up getting dissected by some evil government lab, Mr. Hoktar," the bruiser said, grinning.

"Ill keep that in mind," he said, chuckling. "I really dont think I have to worry about things like that, but Ill be sure to remember what you said."

"You do that," the bruiser said with a chuckle of his own.

"See ya," he said with a wave as he turned and left.

__

)Well, that_ was sure one of the stranger situations Ive gotten myself intothat involved normal humans, anyway.(_

)Not from where Im standing. And please, kid, dont start with the "standing" bit again.(

)Come again?( he asked, confused.

__

)I asked you not to start again with the-(

)Yeah, I heard that part,( he cut in, before his "inner Zoanoid" could build up any real momentum. _)What I wanted to know was what you meant by the stuff you said before that.(_

)Oh, that.(

)Yeah, that. What did you mean when you said that this wasnt so strange for you?(

)They wanted to test you, to see if you were strong enough for them to bother recruiting,( Elegen sent, in the tone of someone whod had some experience with the concept. _)Back when I worked for Chronos, I remember once a candidate for Hyper Zoanoid processing had been selected, the bigwigs would have some of us challenge them to a fight.(_

)They had you and your guys beating up on normal people?( He wasnt quite sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, those guys _were_ working for Chronos; on the other, they were being pounded on by things that could tear through the body of a semi-truck with almost laughable ease.

__

)Those guys werent exactly what youd call "normal", kid. No one gets selected to be a Hyper Zoanoid candidate_ unless theyre the best out there. That means combat training in the Green Berets, Army Rangers, Marine Force Recon, or Navy SEALs. These guys were tough enough to give even us a run for our money.(_ There was a thread of uncertainly in his "inner Zoanoids" tone, and Ryan wondered for a moment if this was one of the things he wasnt sure about.

Hed said before that he didnt know just which of his memories was objectively real the result of something hed actually _done_ in his life or just things he remembered that had never happened, and hence were probably the result of one or more of the Zoalords tampering with his mind. Elegen had thought it was Balkus, and Ryan didnt have any cause to dispute that.

__

)Hey, kid, you havent managed to get us lost, have you?(

)Ill check,( he sent, hoping for both their sakes he hadnt.

Hed started out in the right direction as a precaution, but there were still times that he would get turned around while he and Elegen were talking. But when he turned his attention back to the outside world, Ryan was relived to note that he was starting to pick out the familiar landmarks that let him know that he was getting closer to the ACTFs temporary compound.

__

)No, I recognize this place. Well be back before you know it.(

)Oh, good,( Elegen sent. _)I hope they still have some of those great chocolate doughnuts I like so much.(_

)Sugar fiend,( he sent._ )Hey, do you think _that _might be why your Zoaform doesnt have any teeth?(_

)Ha. Ha ha. And ha, you little wiseass,( Elegen sent with positively dripping sarcasm. _)Zancrus may be a bastard, but he was at least right about something: youve got a real mouth on you, kid.(_

Ryan chuckled aloud, even as he felt Elegen falling back to his normal place at the far edges of Ryans consciousness so hed be able to navigate his way back to the compound instead of being absorbed in a mental conversation. As he made his way closer to the abandoned-looking warehouse that served as the ACTFs center of operations in this area though for how long, even he didnt know he found himself looking forward to a nice, hot shower and a good, long sleep.

__

)Uh-uh,( Elegen sent, with a mental headshake. _)Hold on a minute, kid. First we eat, and _then_ we can go have one of those hour-long showers you seem to enjoy so much.(_

)Oh, please,( he sent, with as close to a scoff as he could get in a non-verbal conversation. _)I do _not_ take anywhere near an hour.(_

)Okay, so maybe something like forty-five minutes, then,( Elegen almost-conceded. _)Still kid, even _youve_ got to admit that you have a tendency to overdo the "soak" cycle when you get in there.(_

)Are you trying to tell me that you dont like it when I do that?( he sent, vaguely taunting.

__

)Hell no,( Elegen sent back. _)The boss-guys at Chronos had me in and out of the shower in ten minutes, so I never really got to enjoy myself.(_

)So what the hell are you even complaining about, Snake-head?(

)Nothing in particular, kid. I was just stating a well-known fact,( Elegen said.

__

)Youre a real crank, you know that?(

)Yeah, and I love you too, kid.(

)Check out the snarky guy,( he sent back.

Ryan, once again absorbed in his mental conversation, waved only halfheartedly at the guards on duty. If hed been paying closer attention, he might have caught sight of the unfriendly looks that the guards were giving him. But he wasnt, so he didnt. As his attention slowly came back to the outside world, he noticed that Sean was waiting for him.

"Hey, Sean," he called, waving to the older Guyver. "You had the time to spend on yourself, and you decided to wait up for me. Im touched, really I am." He grinned happily, right up until he saw the look on Seans face.

__

)Whats with him?( Elegen asked.

__

)Not a clue,( he sent, more than a little confused himself.

"So, how did your _meeting_ go?" Sean asked snappishly.

"Come again?" he asked, feeling like hed just walked into a conversation that was already in progress.

"Dont play dumb with me, you traitor!" Sean snapped, storming over and grabbing Ryan by the collar of his shirt. "I _knew_ we never should have trusted you, you quasi-Zoanoid!"

"First of all, get your hands _off_ of me!" he growled, swatting Seans grasping hands away with more force than was perhaps strictly necessary. "Second, it wasnt just your standard-issue cannon fodder Zoanoid that I fused with; try to get that through your head. Third, just what the hell are you doing, calling _me_ a traitor? You have any proof to back up your wild allegations, _Sean_?" he snarled, spitting the older boys name like a particularly vile epithet.

Sean smirked, and it wasnt a nice expression at all. "Who was that guy you met at the Dairy Queen? You know, the one who bought you ice cream and chicken, then called you one of Chronos best double agents?"

Ryan could feel his eyebrows rising ever so slightly. "You were spying on me?"

"Yeah." There was a far more definite sneer in Seans voice as he said this. "Really smooth, the way you two met up in that Dairy Queen. After all, people kind of _expect_ you to talk about things when you come into a place like that with someone else."

Ryan blinked a couple times as he processed that information, and then he started laughing. "Not exactly Philip Marlowe, are you Sean?"

"What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?" the man in question demanded.

"It means that youre remarkably obtuse, Sean," he scoffed.


	30. My Dark Life

Just then, a bright red dot appeared in the center of Ryans chest: the laser-sight for a targeting designator. Hed seen enough movies to know what they looked like.

"Just how many people _did_ you invite to this little party of ours, Sean?" he asked, trying to sound casual in spite of the fact that he knew someone was aiming a deadly weapon at him.

"Shut your trap, you lying little bastard!" shouted the man with the gun.

"_Falman?_ I thought Atkins had already told you about me," he said, surprised to see one of the people he thought hed been starting to form a friendship with turning against him so suddenly.

"He did," Falman said tightly, his aim never faltering. "I was reserving judgment."

"And let me guessyouve passed it now?" he drawled.

The only answer he got to that particular question was a shot fired over his head.

__

)Maybe its just my opinion, but I think you can take that as a "yes", kid.(

"Put your hands on top of your head, quasi-Zoanoid, and youll make this a lot easier on yourself," Falman ordered.

__

)This guys really starting to piss me off,( Ryan growled mentally.

__

)Yeah. Talk about your cross-country jumps to conclusions,( Elegen sent.

Falman, once he saw that Ryan wasnt obeying his orders, fired another warning shot. This one passed so close to Ryans head that it actually ruffled his hair. Narrowing his eyes, Ryan shifted his gaze to the ceiling.

__

)What are you doing, kid?(

)Do you think the ceilings here are made of metal, Elegen?(

It was the use of his name that gave Elegen an idea of the seriousness of Ryans question. He and Ryan never used each others names unless there was something very important they had to discuss. Elegen felt Ryan giving up some of his control, and Elegen looked out through Ryans eyes at the ceiling.

__

)I think we just got lucky, Ryan,( he sent. _)Theres really only one way to find out for sure, but I have a pretty good feeling about it.(_

)Only "pretty good"?( Ryan seemed a bit wary; then he seemed to sigh. _)Well, I guess thats going to have to be enough.(_

Before Falman could fire another shot, Ryan rolled out of his line of fire, ran at the wall and kicked off it, then leaped as high as he could. As his palms slapped the ceiling at the arc of his leap, Ryan felt Elegens electrical energies crackling through his arms.

__

)Nice work, Snake-head,( he sent, as they managed to hold fast to the ceiling with pure electromagnetic force.

__

)It was still your idea, kid.(

Chuckling, he pulled his feet up and braced them against the ceiling. Holding tightly to the ceiling with his hands, Ryan could feel Elegen channeling more electrical power into his legs. Just then, Falman snap-turned, aiming his rifle directly at Ryans forehead.

__

)Shit! Well, so much for getting a feel for things. I guess we just have to dive right in,( Ryan sent, annoyed.

__

)Unless you want to have a few new holes punched in you, yeah.(

)Shut it, Snake-head,( he sent flatly.

__

)Its shut, kid.(

He took off, wobbling only once before Elegen increased the amount of power flowing through his legs. Running upside-down on the ceiling wasnt quite as disorienting as hed thought it would be, but that could just be because he hadnt been doing it for very long. Pelting around a corner just in time to avoid a shot from Falmans rifle, Ryan paused for a moment to figure out where he was.

Figuring things out from his new perspective was a definite challenge, made all the more difficult since he had Falman and Sean hunting him. A gunshot shattered one of the ceiling panels about six inches from where he was standing, and Ryan took that as his cue to get the hell out of there.

__

)This is completely insane,( he groused.

__

)I cant argue with you there, kid. Still, itd be nice to know why_ these two have it out for us so bad.(_

)That would be nice.(

The blood had started to rush to his head by now, which was making him increasingly dizzy and uncomfortable the longer he spent in that position. He wanted to stop and catch his breath but knew that he wouldnt have the chance to do any such thing until hed managed to get Thing 1 and Thing 2 off his tail. So he kept running, hoping to either shake them off or find Atkins.

Preferably both.

The dizziness was starting to become a worse problem by this time, and Ryan wasnt sure how much longer he was going to be able to keep up this frenetic pace.

__

)Dont you usually prefer a more direct approach, kid?(

)Like what? Blasting my way out with the Mega-Smasher?(

)Thats not such a bad idea,( Elegen sent blandly.

At that pronouncement, Ryans eyebrows shot up far enough that they nearly touched his hairline.

__

)Youre not actually serious about that, are you, Elegen?(

)Why shouldnt I be?( Elegen asked with complete sincerity. _)Why? Do you honestly think they dont deserve it? Theyre trying to _kill_ us, if youve somehow managed to forget that.(_

)Not all of them,( he pointed out, trying to be practical even as another barrage from Falmans rifle tore into the ceiling behind him.

__

)What, are you actually trying to say that one isnt enough for you? I knew you were a bit of a sado-masochist, but even I didnt think you were crazy enough to enjoy being shot at!(

)Thats not what this is about, Elegen. If I blasted my way out of this base with the Mega-Smasher, Chronos would be able to find this place just by backtracking the flow of energy from the blast. There might be people here that Im not very fond of on a personal level, but that doesnt mean that Im going to expose their base to Chronos.(

Elegen seemed to sigh. _)I guess you have a point there, but that doesnt mean I have to like it.(_

)I thought you werent one to hold a grudge, Snake-head,( he sent.

__

)Theres a guy down there whos actively shooting at us, kid. I dont really think it counts as a grudge when the guy in question is trying to kill you_,( _Elegen shot back.

Ryan chuckled inwardly and kept on running. By now the dizziness had gotten so bad he wasnt even sure that he was going to be able to make it a few more _steps_ without losing consciousness, so he stopped.

__

)Looks like youre going to get your wish, Snake-head. At least some of it, anyway.(

With that, Ryan leaped off the ceiling and turned himself in midair so he would be able to hit the ground feet-first. Calling his Guyver as he fell, he barely noticed the bullets, as they were deflected both by the Units pressure field and the armor itself.

"So youve finally decided to show your true colors, eh, quasi-Zoanoid?!"

"Piss off, shut up, and bite me, Falman!" he shot back, swiftly becoming angrier than annoyed.

Falman, since he probably already knew that a normal firearm wouldnt do squat against a Guyver, tossed his aside. Or at least, that was what Ryan thought the metallic clattering sound was. The next thing he noticed was a sudden warning from his Guyver. Instinctively ducking to avoid whatever it was, he managed to dodge an actual bullet.

__

)Shit! Explosive shells,( he sent, more than a little aggravated. _)Well, I guess we know what he traded in for.(_

)Zoanoid Buster Mark II?( Elegen asked, though they both knew the answer to that question.

__

)The very same.(

)Hes got to know that thats not going to do much more than annoy a Guyver,( Elegen sent, seeming mildly amused.

__

)Yeah, but Im starting to get kind of annoyed, personally.(

)So why dont you just take some potshots at him with the Head Beam?(

)Oh, yeah, thatll really_ convince Falman that Im on his side,(_ he sent back, his sarcasm plainly obvious even in this mental arena.

__

)With friends like him, who needs Chronos,( Elegen mentally scoffed.


	31. Hollow Man

More shots from Falmans Zoanoid Buster Mark II tore into the floor where Ryan had stood literally seconds before.

__

)Cmon kid, let me zap him already.(

)I already told you, Snake-head, thats not a good idea.( "The _hell_?!"

This reaction was about what one could reasonably expect from a person who had just turned a corner, only to be confronted by a line of ACTF soldiers, all of whom were aiming rifles in his direction. With neither the time nor the inclination to stop or change direction, Ryan forward-flipped over the heads of the soldiers that stood in his way. After that it was breakout time, as he ran at the Guyvers top speed in an effort to avoid anyone else who might be trying to stop him from leaving.

__

)Good thing you still have all your stuff with you, kid. I can just imagine you trying to go back and get your tape player with half the ACTF up your ass.( Elegen seemed to laugh at the idea.

__

)Put a sock in it, Snake-head.(

)Come on, kid. Even youve got to admit that youve got really screwed up priorities when it comes to certain things of yours.(

)Im not listening to you,( he sent conversationally.

__

)Yeah, but youre not denying it either, I notice,( Elegen shot back.

Ryan was almost at the entrance of the base by now, so he focused all his attention on where he was going. It was going to be pretty interesting, trying to get out of the compound in full Guyver armor, not to mention with all of the soldiers that were chasing him.

__

)Why dont you just use the Hyper Accelerator and outrun all of them?( Elegen asked.

__

)Huh. Now why didnt I think of that?(

)Dunno, kid. But I think wed have a better chance of outrunning the goon squad if we used the Giga.(

)You do_ have a point there, Snake-head.(_

"Giga Guyver!"

__

)Must you always be so dramatic about calling the thing, kid?(

)Hey, you want to talk about being dramatic, you should go have a talk with our dear friend Sho,( he sent, with the suggestion of a laugh.

__

)Yeah.( Elegens mental tone also carried the same undertone. _)I guess youre not so bad compared to him. But that still doesnt mean youre off the hook here, kid.(_

)Quiet, you.(

With a thought, Ryan activated the Gigas Hyper Accelerator, and everything seemed to freeze in place. He knew intellectually that he was simply moving too fast to be able to perceive normal time at the moment, but he still couldnt help the passing thought that all of the soldiers pursuing him had been turned into statues. Laughing inwardly at the direction of his own wayward thoughts, Ryan ran past another group of ACTF troops who had evidently just been dispatched to fight him.

From the way they were poised, caught in a run with their guns aimed forward, Ryan knew he would have had a fair amount of trouble getting out of the compound without hurting at least some of them, even in his normal Guyver form.

Slowing to a jog now that he didnt have to evade the patrols that had been sent out after him, he continued on his way through the base. He passed several more soldiers that had been seemingly frozen in place when hed activated the Hyper Accelerator. Most of them had been caught on their way to the armory, judging from the direction they were all facing when he ran past them. Once hed finally made it back to the main entrance of the compound, Ryan saw that there was a small squad of ACTF soldiers waiting for him there.

__

)They didnt really think that putting just eight guys out here would be enough to stop us_, did they?(_ Elegen sent, seeming offended.

__

)They would have been right. I already told you that were not going to be killing anyone.(

Elegen seemed to sigh, obviously annoyed. _)You know we wouldnt have to do anything like that, kid. Wed just have to force our way past them somehow.(_

)And you really think wed be able to do that without attacking any of them? In Guyver mode? Come on. You even said yourself how determined these guys are, and right now they think of us as the enemy. You know theyd do anything they had to do to keep us here.(

XxXxX

__

)Yeah, I guess you have a point,( Elegen seemed to sigh_. )I guess it wouldnt look very good for us if we ended up killing one of them.(_

The doors to the ACTF compound were closed tightly, of course, and there was no way they could be opened in anything resembling a normal manner. He and Elegen both knew this, and they were no sooner standing in front of the entrance to the compound than he had jammed his lithe, clawed hands in the seam between the door and the wall, forcing them apart.

__

)What do you think theyre going to make of this?( Elegen asked.

__

)I dont know,( he sent as he forced the door open still further. _)And at this point, I really dont care.(_

There was no sound of rending metal; in fact, there were no sounds at all. It wasnt something that either of them had gotten used to yet: either the almost oppressive silence, or the fact that they were moving too fast for normal sound to register for them. The door of the compound had been forced open far enough to let Ryan in his spindly Giga Guyver form get through them easily.

Feeling slightly vindictive, he decided to leave them that way.

__

)So, any real idea of where youre going, kid? Or are you just making this up as you go along?(

)I have a few ideas,( he sent.

__

)Oh, so youre going to stay with those guys who nearly kicked our head in, and then tried to recruit us,( Elegen sent, seeming dubious. _)Youve got some seriously weird sensibilities, you know that, kid?(_

)Im open to any other suggestions you might have,( he sent, feeling slightly annoyed.

__

)How about "anything but that"?( his "inner-Zoanoid" shot back.

__

)Oh?( he ribbed, getting into the spirit of things. _)You mean we should just walk right into the nearest Chronos base and ask for a job there? Knowing full well that the first thing those goons are likely to do is call Dr. Balkus and hand me over to him for vivisection?(_

)Okay, so that was a bad choice of words on my part,( Elegen admitted. _)Still, kid, you cant really be serious about hooking up with those guys.(_

)Why shouldnt I be? You said yourself that that the only reason they attacked us was to see if I was strong enough to be worth their time,( he sent as he slowed to a walk.

__

)That wasnt exactly what I said, kid.(

For once, Ryan and Elegen were too absorbed by their discussion to comment on or even notice the frozen figures they were surrounded by now that they had entered Hypertime. Elegen was also too busy trying to think up a good counterargument to what Ryan had just said, who, for his part, was starting to wonder just what Elegen was going to say next.

__

)Okay, so what I said could_ have been taken as some kind of encouragement,(_ Elegen conceded. _)That still doesnt mean you have to listen to me. I say a lot of things, kid. It doesnt make you obligated to follow up on any of it.(_

)Fair enough,( he sent, with a shrug that he knew Elegen wouldnt notice and an off-handed manner that he knew his "inner-Zoanoid" wouldnt miss. _)Im still going, though, you know.(_

)Yeah, I thought you might say that,( Elegen seemed to sigh. _)Stubborn little bastard.(_

)Put a sock in it, Snake-head,( he shot back.

__

)Did I mention that I meant that in the best possible way?(

)That still doesnt get you off the hook, Snake-head,( he sent.

__

)Whatever you say, kid.(

Their conversation over, at least for the moment, Elegen let himself drift back to his usual place in the background of Ryans mind. Commanding the Gravity Controller to lift him off the ground, Ryan flew over the buildings until he had almost reached the center of the city.

Landing with a minimum of fuss, Ryan quickly located the one thing he would need to sustain himself. Remaining in Hypertime for as long as he safely could, he dispatched all of the people in the area by the simple expedient of giving them a swift chop to the back of the head, then deactivated both sets of armor and set about satiating the raging tiger that currently occupied his stomach.

Stuffing himself until he was on the verge of falling asleep, he reactivated the Guyver, and then recalled the Giga. Slipping back into Hypertime, he quickly left the building and flew over an alleyway that looked like it would be clear for long enough for him to get out of there without being noticed.

Shifting back into normal time for the second time that night, he deactivated the Giga, deactivated his Guyver, and walked calmly out of the secluded alley he had landed in. That part of the city was very close to the place where he had met up with the guys who had jumped him after hed come out of that Dairy Queen. Looking around at the few people who were out at this time of night, he wondered how many of _them _were Zoanoids.

He would have probably been attacked by now if the people here were Zoanoids, though.

__

)Maybe not, kid,( Elegen sent. _)Its really weird, but the Zoanoids here seem to want to stay as far away from us as they can.(_

)I guess you have a point,( he sent, sighing aloud. _)I still dont know why they wouldnt just attack us on general principle, though.(_

)Well, I know that the Zoalords arent afraid of us, but maybe the common Zoanoids are actually starting develop some self-preservation instincts.(

)That still wouldnt explain why the Hyper Zoanoids are trying to stay out of our way. Theyve managed to kill us more than a few times, if you remember.(

)Yeah, I remember,( Elegen sent, aggravated at no one in particular.

If Ryan had looked up, he might have caught sight of the figure on the rooftop. He might have also wondered just who would be watching him so closely, and then Elegen would have likely been able to tell him what the creature taking so close an interest in their movements actually was. However, since neither Ryan nor Elegen was particularly concerned with much besides finding a comfortable place to rest and think, they didnt give any thought to the fact that they might be followed.

That would prove to be something of a mistake.

XxXxX

The slight, hooded figure that had been stationed in this area to await the potential arrival of the Fifth Guyver frowned as he appeared out of thin air. When he shed _two_ sets of armor instead of the expected one, she frowned all the more deeply. Shed heard of the Gigantic upgrade, but this didnt match any of the descriptions of _that_ armor.

__

-Sharru, what do you have to report?-

Caerleon, its good to hear from you again, sir, she responded glibly, trying to cover her uneasiness at what she had just seen. _What, no hello?_

-Sharru, you try my patience.-

Sorry, sir. The Fifth Guyver has left the Anti Chronos Task Forces base, as you said he would.

-Which direction was he coming from when you saw him?-

Unknown, sir. He appeared out of thin air in front of me, she responded, knowing that Lord Caerleon would sense the truthfulness of her statement in spite of how outlandish it sounded.

__

-What do you mean by that?-

I dont know how else to explain it, sir, she said, completely at a loss. _Its as if he just teleported in or something._

-I will take that into consideration,- he said, sounding as bemused as she felt. _-Meanwhile, your orders remain unchanged.-_

Understood, Lord Caerleon. Ill keep the Fifth Guyver in my sight at all times.

-See that you do.-


	32. My Way

)Youre completely aware that this plan of yours is stupid, right, kid?( __

)Its like I said before, Snake-head, if you have any ideas that wont end up getting us killed, vivisected, or processed, Id be perfectly happy to listen to you.(

Elegen gave the impression of sighing in annoyance but didnt say anything else. Ryan, his focus no longer taken up by his conversation with Elegen, started to make his way deeper into the city. He wondered if he was going to end up meeting the people who had accosted him in a particular place, or if they would just come up to him in the nearest convenient people-less area. A line from Cowboy Bebop that he had practically made his motto came to him then. It was one of Spikes more interesting sayings, as far as he was concerned.

"Whatever happens, happens," he said, speaking aloud for his own benefit.

__

)If thats really your motto, kid, then it sure explains a hell of a lot.(

)Must you always distract me at the worst possible time?( he asked, just to be contrary.

__

)Its my purpose in life, kid,( Elegen sent, seeming fairly amused. _)Besides, this hardly counts as the worst possible time. And Ive never started shooting my proverbial mouth off when weve been in real danger.(_

)Thats probably only because me getting my brains blown up would have some nasty side effects on you. And since when do you know big words like "proverbial"?(

)Im going to kick your proverbial ass, kid,( Elegen shot back.

Before he could think up a suitably crushing retort, Ryan felt someone tap him on the shoulder. Being a little keyed up from Hypertime and the paranoid suspicion that he was surrounded by Sleeper Units, he could perhaps be forgiven for acting without thinking.

Elegen came to the forefront of their shared mind, causing Ryans eyes to flicker yellow briefly before settling into a balanced yellow-green. Spinning around, Ryan caught the offending person in a chokehold.

__

)To fry or not to fry?( Elegen sent, seeming to chuckle.

__

)Thats not even a question,( he sent with a mental laugh of his own.

"Nice reflexes youve got there, Thunderbolt," the girl, who Ryan still had by the neck, managed to say with a smirk. "You wanna tell me just how you managed to get your eyes to do that, or is it some kind of a trade secret?"

"Take my word for it," Ryan said, smirking as he let go of her neck. "You wouldnt believe me if I told you."

"Oh, so it _is_ a trade secret," she said, chuckling.

"No. Its just the weirdest story this side of the Twilight Zone."

XxXxX

As he watched the progress of the Fifth Guyver through his connection to Sharru, Edward Caerleon wondered again at the circumstances that had lead to the humans coming to possess the abilities of an Elegen-type Hyper Zoanoid. Dr. Balkus had made his desire to possess the boy, to dissect him and study him and perhaps find a way to control the Fifth Guyver, quite plain on numerous occasions. It was bound to be a difficult task, since Guyvers by their very nature were rather uncontrollable. It would be rather interesting to watch the process, if nothing else.

That is, if they ever managed to capture the boy. So far, the Fifth Guyver was proving to be annoyingly resistant. Perhaps, however, this day would be the one that saw Chronos capture of Ryan Crouger.

The fact that he was without the meager protection of the Anti Chronos Task Force and their allied Guyver would make it at least marginally less difficult to take him. Still, opportunities to capture the Fifth Guyver did not come along very often. The boy himself saw to that.

XxXxX

Ryan and the black-haired girl, who by this time had introduced herself by the unique name of Gearhead, had made their way to an old, abandoned mansion that Ryan personally thought would have made the perfect set for a retro horror film. Hed been a bit tense, jumpy even, through the whole trip for reasons that neither he nor Gearhead had been able to figure out. Consultation with Elegen had revealed that the Hyper Zoanoid was just as confused about the situation as he was.

The things theyd been sensing on an intermittent basis as they followed Gearhead through the city hadnt felt like normal Zoanoids, but they sure as hell hadnt been human. Ryan didnt like not knowing what he was dealing with; it always seemed to get him in trouble lately.

XxXxX

There were people actually, Zoalords coming to visit him; he even knew who they were. Ingriam smiled as he saw the door of his temporary office start to open. He was really happy to have them here, even if Mr. Caerleon wasnt really friendly. Mr. Shin had said that Mr. Caerleon was like that with everybody, and he shouldnt make anything of it.

When Uncle Waferdanos hugged him, laughing and petting his hair the way Dad always would when he was really happy. Ingriam hugged him right back.

"Youve done quite a service for us today, child," Uncle Waferdanos said, once he had stopped laughing so much. "Your idea worked out quite well, it appears."

"Thanks, Uncle Waferdanos," he said, smiling as he leaned his cheek against his uncles chest.

"Yes, youve done quite well, child," Mr. Caerleon said. "Youve managed, in one day, with only one Hyper Zoanoid soldier, to separate the Fifth Guyver from his would-be allies and assure that he will not be able to easily rejoin them."

"I quite agree," said another voice, a soft one that Ingriam recognized right away. "You have indeed done quite well."

"Thanks, Mr. Rienzi," he said, smiling over Uncle Waferdanos left shoulder.

Mr. Rienzi and Mr. Caerleon werent really looking at him when they said that, but then they never really seemed to look at him when he was hugging someone. Theyd looked away from Dad and him when they were hugging, too. He thought that was kind of funny.

Uncle Waferdanos let go of him and stepped back, and even though he really wanted to go and hug Mr. Rienzi or Yentsui, the way Alkanphel would call him he knew that Mr. Rienzi didnt really like being hugged.

XxXxX

Ryan was slightly uneasy as he made his way into the old, abandoned mansion. Gearhead had told him for the fifth time that he should just calm down and stop jumping at every little thing. It was a thing much easier said than done.

__

)Gah, this is getting old. Its the sixth time weve sensed that damned thing,( Elegen snapped. _)It doesnt read like a Zoanoid, but it sure as hell isnt human. So what in fucks name _is_ it?!(_

)I dont know,( he sent, swiftly becoming more annoyed. _)Just like I didnt know the _last_ four time you asked me that same question.(_

He and Elegen fell into a mutual silence; he knew and Elegen probably did too that they were both a bit too stressed right now, but neither of them were in the mood to talk.

"Hey, Thunderbolt!" It was the big, husky, muscular boy whod been one of the only two people to get his not-so-oblique Stargate reference. "I didnt think wed ever be seeing you again. I thought you said you had somewhere to be."

"Yeah," he muttered softly; then he smirked. "Turns out that didnt work out quite so well as I thought it would. So now Im a free agent, I guess."

"Well, welcome to our little group, Thunderbolt. Im sure youll get used to the way things are done around here," said the blond guy, who Gearhead had informed him was called Shepherd for some reason or other.

"Im sure I will," he said, grinning to cover his uneasiness; that thing, whatever it was, was still out there.

He just hoped that hed be able to handle whatever it was quietly; tough as these guys thought they were, none of them could handle Chronos.


	33. Blow Me Away

All of the scientists at this pitiful excuse for a facility had been gathered for him, making it all the easier to dispose of them as he had planned. Humans such as these had no value to Chronos; that they were processing technicians would not make a difference regarding their punishment. It in fact made the situation all the more urgent in Edwards view.

These people had been producing, along with their weak and almost useless Zoanoid stock, a truly appalling amount of Lost Numbers. He had also taken the time to review the procedures, pathetic and rudimentary though they were, that this branch had used to select their candidates for processing. The humans were not even screened for basic genetic compatibility. More of Gyous work, he suspected.

Hearing the chattering of the assembled humans, Edward turned his attention back to them. After all, even lowly humans deserved to know why they were being executed.

"Now that all of you have come, I suppose that you would like to know why you have been gathered together in this manner."

His tone was that of one making a pronouncement. It was not one that invited those beneath him to question him. And yet, that was just what these humans began to do.

"What happened to the guy that was running this place before you two came? You know, that Luggnagg guy?"

Edward leveled a scathing glare at the impudent, presumptuous human who had dared to address him one of the Twelve Supreme Lords of Chronos, as well as the Sixth of the Nine Overlords with such casual familiarity. If the way Krumeggnik had treated his inferiors had lead to the kind of sloppy behavior that he had seen in evidence all throughout this branch of Chronos, and Edward had very little doubt that it had, it truly was in the best interests of Chronos to have Ingriam Mirabilis as his replacement.

Even if Lord Imakarums son was both overly timid as well as somewhat overzealous in his duties, at least young Ingriam attempted to maintain a firm hold on his underlings.

"Dead," he said finally.

The lack of emotion in his voice was plainly unnerving to the humans who were ranged before him, a fact Edward cared nothing at all about. Those who were about to die could be expected to feel some fear, at least.

"Did you just bring us here to tell us that?" another of the humans asked, sounding pathetically hopeful. "Are we free to go now?"

"No," he said flatly.

"Then why _did_ you call us all together like this?"

The next human to speak actually had the temerity to sound annoyed. It was as if he thought that obeying the dictates of his superiors was somehow beneath him. Edward hated people like that, who did not know their proper place.

"Because your services are no longer required," he stated, knowing that the impudent human would not leave it at that.

"So what, youre just going to fire all of us?"

Edwards lips curved in a thin, humorless smile. "In a manner of speaking."

Before the useless humans could make even a token attempt to understand the pronouncement that he had just made, Edward raised his right hand. With a brief mental effort, he made the temperature in the room climb to uncomfortable levels. Uncomfortable for the humans, at least; not so for the Firewielder himself.

A spark appeared above Edwards outstretched palm, and he fed his own energy into it until it had expanded into a blazing conflagration. He had selected a room with no flammable components or explosive materials for just this purpose. The screams and pleas meant nothing to the Sixth Zoalord, though the stink of human flesh consumed by his fire _did_ become rather distracting after several minutes.

When the last of the humans had stopped screaming, Edward released his control over the fire. Without his power, it would soon run out of fuel and extinguish itself. Turning away from the still-burning human corpses, Edward stepped over to the door and let himself out.

Closing the door behind him so the stench would not spread throughout the entire level, he sent a mental signal to the Zoanoids nearest his position informing them that they had work to do.

XxXxX

"I cant help but think youre still hiding something," Shepherd said, once he had managed to corner Ryan alone.

__

)So are you gonna give him the basic rundown, kid, or are you gonna tell him to can it?(

)I think Ill go with option three,( he sent.

__

)And that would be?(

)Im going to pretend I didnt hear him,( he sent,

And so, even though Shepherd was looking at him with obvious expectation, Ryan turned and walked away, heading out of the room.

"Thunderbolt!" Shepherds tone was hard and forceful, the tone Ryan had heard Ace call his leader-voice.

He sighed. _)Well, so much for that idea.(_

)Dont tell me you actually expected that so-called plan of yours to work.( Elegen was obviously incredulous. _)On second thought, kid, maybe youd better not say anything at all. If I know you you might wanna answer him before he starts getting antsy,( _Elegen interrupted himself.

"What?" he asked, wanting to know if Shepherd had said anything important while Elegen had been berating him.

"I said, I want the truth," Shepherd said, giving him a hard stare.

"Sorry to quote A Few Good Men at you, guy, but you cant handle the truth," he said.

Shepherd glared at him.

__

)Dont think he liked that answer too much, kid.(

)Yeah, well, like it or not its the only answer I can give him. Its not like I can just go and start telling him about Chronos and the war, you know?(

)Yeah, but you are_ going to have to tell him something eventually, kid. So youd better think fast.(_

)Isnt that what I do best?( he asked with self-mocking arrogance.

The tight grip Shepherd had on his shoulders startled him. The glare Shepherd turned on full-force made him more than a little bit uneasy.

"Care to tell me why you got so spacey all of a sudden?" Shepherd demanded, his tone clearly stating that he wouldnt tolerate anymore BS.

"Look," he sighed, "I already told you, I cant tell you whats going on with me. The fact that you wouldnt believe a word of it aside, it really is safer for you and your people if you didnt know just what Ive gotten myself into."

"How deep into this mystery thing _are_ you, anyway?" Shepherd asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Id have to say Im just about neck-deep," he said with a shrug.

"Thats not going to work out, then. I need to know whats going on with you. Youre one of mine now, and we protect our own, Thunderbolt."

"Yeah," he sighed. "Thats what Im trying to do, too: protect you and your people."

"Protect us? From what?"

"Lets just say that the guys Im currently annoying have it in for anyone who knows about them," he said wryly.

"If thats really the case, why dont you just stop annoying them?" Shepherd asked reasonably.

He winced briefly, then made an effort to regain his composure. Shep didnt know about Chronos, and if he had any say in the matter, that was the way things were going to stay. Shep and his people werent with the ACTF, and bad things still tended to happen to people who found out about Chronos.


	34. Raise Your Rifles

"Thats really not an option for me anymore," he admitted, chuckling, half-bitter and half-rueful. "They already have a massive hate-on for me. Theyll hunt me down no matter where I go, so my only real option is to go after them before they start coming after me again."

"Can you at least tell me who _they_ are?"

"Sorry," he said, offering a one-shouldered shrug, "but that really falls into the category of things youre better off not knowing."

__

)Youre not going to tell him any more than that, are you, kid.(

It wasnt really a question, but he was going to answer it anyway. _)This really is for his own good, Elegen.(_

)I wont argue with you on that one, Ryan. I just know that Sheps not going to take it as well as youd like. I know protective types, and this guys definitely one of them. Just make sure you keep that in mind when youre dealing with him.(

)Ill keep that in mind,( he said, turning his attention back to Shepherd.

"Are you going to tell me why you keep spacing out on me when I try to talk to you?" the man in question demanded.

"Sorry about all the secret-agent stuff, but thats also one of the things youre better off not knowing."

"I cant accept that," Shepherd said flatly.

"I wouldnt ask you to," he stated with flat certainty. "Thanks for trying, though. Im sorry it didnt work out, but like I said, there are just some things youre better off not knowing."

Turning away from Shepherd before the other boy could think of anything else to say, he left. Theyd probably throw him out now that he wasnt a member of their group not that hed ever really been one in the first place, but whatever and he was going to need to find a new place to stay. That meant that hed need some time to think; he didnt know L.A. nearly as well as hed need to to make this easy.

XxXxX

Outside the old, abandoned mansion, a figure moved in the shadows. While Ryan was getting ready to leave, someone else was getting ready to go in. On the orders of Overlord Edward Caerleon, Chaldu had taken over Sharrus duties as a tracker. Sharru herself had been sent to reconnoiter the ACTFs headquarters; Chaldu wasnt entirely sure, but she got the feeling that the mission was some kind of a punishment, especially since Overlord Caerleon had seemed annoyed with Sharru for some reason.

Well, as annoyed as he ever got, anyway.

Focusing her attention back on what she was supposed to be doing, Chaldu continued to look for a way inside. Most of the entrances and exits had wooden planks nailed across them, really more of an annoyance than a hindrance. On the other hand, she _had_ been ordered to handle this mission with a delicate touch, which _did_ in fact preclude her ripping down the planks in her way; she knew this full well.

She wasnt a male Zoanoid, after all.

Leaving behind the boarded-up front entrance, Chaldu continued to search. When she started to hear a decidedly odd clicking/scraping sound coming from behind her, she turned to look back over her shoulder. Seeing that there was no one and nothing standing behind her, Chaldu turned her attention back to her assignment.

Just in time to feel someone clamp their hand over her mouth. Another hand closed around her neck, and Chaldu transformed. With her Zoaforms claws fully formed, she slashed at the arms of her captor. She was extremely unpleasantly surprised to find that her claws merely caught in the skin of her assailant.

XxXxX

Aptom chuckled coldly as the female Zoanoid he was eating struggled futilely in his grip. There was just no way that she was going to be able to get away from him.

__

I hope I dont end up as some kind of hermaphrodite after this. He had to laugh at himself after that thought. After all, there wasnt really that much of a difference between a female Zoanoid and a male. Not when it came to their Zoaforms, anyway; that was all he cared about in the end.

Hed seen a few female Zoanoids during the time hed spent working for Chronos, but as a Lost Unit hed never been assigned to work with them. Hell, all he really knew about female Zoanoids was that they were smaller than the males. The few he had seen in action were even faster than Zancrus, whod been the fastest Hyper Zoanoid hed ever encountered.

He really looked forward to being able to improve his own considerable speed, since being faster than his meals would give them less of a chance to escape from him. Also, thered be less of a chance for one of them to be able to tag him with a damned bio-laser, which was another plus as far as he was concerned.

Looking back at his hands, he watched as the last remnants of the female Zoanoid were absorbed. He paused, taking a moment to assimilate the few memories he had received from his most recent meal. The only memories that got through to him were the most recent, but in this case it was enough to let him know that things were about to get ugly again.

__

That kid never could_ seem to keep himself out of trouble,_ he thought derisively. Still, it was Crouger and not Fukamachi who was in trouble. He might protect Fukamachi when the situation demanded it, but that was only so he could have the pleasure of ending that little shits life personally. For the memory of his friends Somlum and Dymu, it was all he _could_ do.

Ryan Crouger was something else entirely. Sure, they annoyed the holy living hell out of each other every time they were in the same place for too long, and there _had_ been a few times hed just wanted to eat the kid and have done with it all. But, when he watched the kid deal out pain and holy havoc to Chronos with no real hesitation, he was actually glad for whatever bizarre chain of events that had let Crouger escape from him.

Besides, it was kind of fun to annoy someone who was actually capable of making snappy comebacks.

With that thought firmly in mind, Aptom turned away from the boarded-up front door of the mansion. If he was going to go inside, and at this point it looked like he might have to, he was going to find an entrance that hadnt been blocked off by planks.


	35. Blood Brothers

As Ryan made his way into one of the old bedrooms of the abandoned mansion that the Hellions were using as their base, he wondered just where he was going to be able to find another place to crash. Shep had pretty much said that it was either tell him what it was that hed gotten himself into or leave, and since everyone who had found out about Chronos had been brutally murdered everyone who hadnt been either processed or recruited by the ACTF, that is that only left the leaving. There was no way he was going to drag more normal people into this.

Not after what had happened to his family.

With his dad missing he tried not to think too deeply about what had probably happened to the old man and his mom off in hiding somewhere, hed decided that, no matter what happened to him, hed never involve anyone in his fight who wasnt already in it for themselves. It was just him and the Zoanoids now; that was the way things had to be, and it was also why he had to leave this place.

__

)Where do you think were going to be able to stay, though?(

)I havent the faintest idea,( he sent. _)Ill probably manage to figure something out later, but right now whats most important is getting out of here before Shep has someone come to throw us out.(_

)You really think hed do something like that?(

)Maybe not,( he sent. _)Still, were going to have to leave before Chronos finds out where we are and starts sending their goons after us.(_

)Youve got a point there, kid.(

Tucking his cassette player back into his jacket pocket, he took one last look around. As depressing as it was, this place was actually the closest thing to a real home that hed been able to stay in for the last year or so. Agitos safehouses didnt rate a remembrance, and hed only been semi-conscious while he and Sho had been trapped in that cocoon together.

Sighing, since he knew there was no point in putting off the inevitable any longer, he made his way out of the old bedroom hed been staying in and headed down the stairs. Elegen was silent the whole time, but he knew the Hyper Zoanoid understood his reasons for leaving and wouldnt try to talk him out of it. As Ryan made his way down the stairs, moving quickly but carefully so he wouldnt end up tripping and _falling_ the rest of the way down, he soon found himself in the mansions spacious living room.

He also found himself facing all six of the Hellions.

"So, youve got your stuff and now youre just going to leave?" Gearhead demanded.

"That was pretty much the plan, yeah."

"I cant believe youd just up and leave so quickly after you seemed so happy to be here. Didnt you say you had nowhere else to stay?" Hardfire, the largest of the Hellions, asked with obvious concern.

"I guess thats really the case now, isnt it," he said, trying to defuse the tension.

"I asked him to trust us with something, some secret that hes been keeping from us; he didnt want to," Shepherd informed the rest of the Hellions, glaring at him all the while.

"This isnt _about _trust, Shep," he snapped, his good humor all but gone.

"You gonna tell me just what it _is_ about, then?"

"Its about keeping you and your people from getting horribly, brutally murdered," he ground out.

"By who?" Shepherds tone was one of complete and utter skepticism.

"Sorry to disappoint you _again_, Shep," he said, smirking and not feeling particularly sorry at all, "but weve already covered this ground."

Shepherd glared at him all the fiercer, and Ryan just barely resisted the urge to give the other boy the finger. Shep might have been fully pissing him off, but at the moment getting out took precedence over anything else. So, as much as he would have liked to the kid a piece of his mind, he was practical enough to know that now wasnt the time. Turning away from the assembled Hellions, he started for the door again.

Feeling someones hand on his shoulder, he turned to look at whoever it was that wanted his attention. Seeing that it was only Snakeoil, Ryan raised his eyebrows at the other boy.

"Cmon, I might as well show you where the exits are."

"I thought you didnt want me to leave," he said.

"Truthfully, I dont. Youre good in a scrap, and we could use someone like you. But we Hellions are tight; its all or nothing with us. And if Shepherd says youre out, then youre out."

__

)Story of my life, eh Snake-head?( he sent, sighing mentally.

__

)Youve still got me with you, kid. Im not going to leave you out in the cold. And Im not just saying that because Im pretty much stuck with you.(

)Thanks, Elegen.(

)Yeah. Keep your head up, Ryan. Well find a way to get through this.(

"Hey!"

"Huh?" He jerked his head over to where Snakeoil was standing.

"Shepherd was right, you _are_ really spacey. Were almost back outside. Ive been trying to tell you that for like five minutes now."

"Sorry, I guess I got a little lost in thought," he said, shrugging.

__

)To say the least.(

)Quiet, you.(

They seemed to be in either a cellar or a very dark hallway though from the look of the place, he thought it was more likely to be the former and for a moment Ryan wondered just what hed missed while he and Elegen had been talking. It wasnt as if he could just ask Snakeoil to take him back the way theyd come not when he was being thrown outbut it _would_ have been nice to know where he was coming from, at least.

XxXxX

Aptom cursed fluently as he stared at yet another boarded-up entrance. The Zoa-chick hed just snacked on might have been a mindless lackey of the Zoalords like all of his other meals, but her idea to get in and out quietly _had_ been a good one. Of course, _he_ wasnt doing it on the orders of his nonexistent superiors. He just wanted to avoid getting a face-full of bioelectricity.

He knew that he stood at least a marginally better chance of being able to do that if he managed to talk with the kid, since Elegen was still mad at him for eating those tasty Hyper Zoanoid friends of his. Naturally, he didnt care much about _that_, but getting blasted in the face was something he liked to avoid on general principle.

Hearing the sound of a door opening and then closing in rapid succession, Aptom quickly made himself scarce.


	36. Princes of the Universe

__

)Well, I think that could have gone at least a little_ bit better. What about you, Snake-head?(_

)Thats actually about what Id been expecting, kid. What with you keeping secrets from them and all.(

)You know why I had to that,( he sent soberly.

__

)Yeah, kid, I do, but Shepherd didnt. And that guy was trying to protect his people just as much as you were, only he didnt know what you were trying to do, hence the misunderstanding.(

)I guess that makes sense,( he sent, a bit depressed by the revelation.

__

)Yeah, I do that sometimes,( Elegen returned, trying to lighten the mood.

__

)Yeah, but only sometimes.(

Mental laughter greeted that statement, and Ryan turned his attention back to the outside world. The first thing he took note of was the sensation that he was being watched.

__

)Whats the matter, kid?(

)Zoa-sense tingling Danger very near Must talk like Captain Kirk.(

"Hey!"

__

)Son of a bitch,( Elegen sent, though with no real malice.

"How come every time we see each other, I end up having to bail you out of some fix or other?" Aptom asked, grinning as he walked up.

"Im pretty sure its for the same reason that every time _I _see _you_, youre being an annoying jerk-off."

"You wound me," Aptom deadpanned, then grinned wider. "So, since you dont have anyplace to stay right now, why dont you come with me?"

"Leaving aside the fact that ol Snake-head hates your nonexistent guts, why in the hell would I _want_ to stay with you?"

"Because I know this really great hotel near here. And I can get both of us in, no questions asked."

"And how would you manage _that_ minor miracle?"

"With the universal language of cold, hard cash," Aptom said, his grin now reaching Cheshire Cat proportions.

Ryan raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Last I checked, Zoanoids werent known for carrying vast amounts of cash. Or any at all, for that matter."

"Well, youd be right about the normal ones," Aptom said almost innocently.

__

)Looks like someones been snacking on Sleeper Units,( Elegen sent darkly.

__

)Yeah. Sho would have a fit if he knew about that_.(_

"Hey!" Aptom called again, bringing his attention back to the outside world once more. "You having another conversation with ol Snake-head?"

__

)Tell that Zoanoid-eating piece of viral slime that if he ever calls me that again, Im going to do something very unpleasant to him.(

)Would that be just on general principle, or because no one calls you Snake-head but me?(

)Whatever you want it to be, kid. I just cant stand that smug bastard when he gets like this.(

)I thought you_ werent one to hold grudges,(_ he sent, slightly amused.

__

)Yeah, well the bastard just keeps pushing every button Ive got.(

)Well, I guess after what he did to you and your old pals, thats perfectly understandable.(

)Thanks for that, kid,( Elegen sent; then he paused, seeming to consider something. _)Do you happen to have even the _slightest_ idea where we ended up?(_

)Crap! I forgot about that.(

)What?! Do I have to keep reminding you just what that bastard could be doing to our body right now?(

)If hes doing anything_, Snake-head, Ill tell you right now that its entirely your fault.(_

)How the hell would it be my_ fault?( _Elegen demanded.

__

)Hello? Need I remind you that youre distracting me by running your nonexistent mouth?(

)It takes two to have a conversation, kid,( Elegen sent, with the mental equivalent of a grumble.

He didnt respond to Elegens jibe, instead opting to find out where Aptom had taken him while his attention had been elsewhere.

"So, who won?" he heard Aptom ask.

"What?"

Looking over at the aforementioned Zoanoid-eater, Ryan found him sprawled rather inelegantly across a large, comfortable-looking bed.

"You keep quiet on me for _that_ long, Red, and I have to figure youve gotten into some kind of argument with your inner Zoanoid. So who won?"

"It was a draw," he said offhandedly, looking around at the room he now found himself in.

Aptom smirked, but since that was pretty much his default expression, Ryan didnt pay much attention to him. He was far more concerned about where hed ended up and what Aptom was planning to do at the moment. The room looked nice, and incredibly expensive, so there was something else to wonder about.

"How did you manage to land us _this_ little slice of heaven?" he asked once hed finished checking out their lavish, but tastefully decorated, room.

"I handled it like I handle all of my housing problems, Red: I gave large amounts of cash to the people in charge here, and they gave me a room," Aptom said, wearing a look of such self-satisfied smugness that under any other set of circumstances Ryan would have been tempted to smack him.

Not in this case, though, since this time Mr. Happy-Psycho Guy _had_ actually managed to earn himself bragging rights. Not that he was ever going to tell the not-so-friendly neighborhood Zoanoid-eater that; he was insufferable enough _without_ the added ego boost.

"So, do we get room service here or what?" he asked, both to change the subject and because he was hungry.

"_You_ can get room service here if you want. It all tastes like sand to me. Unless"

At the sly smile on Aptoms face, Ryan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know. Wed both get dinner then," he said with a chuckle. "Well, since Ive got a massive case of the munchies, Im going to call them. Who knows; maybe theyll bring something you like, too."

Aptom smirked wider. Rolling his eyes in the Zoanoid-eaters general direction for the second time, Ryan made for the phone. Picking it up and pressing it to his ear, he quickly dialed room service, once he had spotted the number on a telephone directory.

"Hey, this is Damien Clarke, up in room" Ryan trailed off as he realized he didnt know what their room number was. Covering the mouthpiece with his palm, he turned to look at Aptom. "What the hells our room number, anyway?"

"Two-oh-eight," Aptom said, smirking again. "You know, you _could_ have thought to ask me that _before_ you picked up the phone."

"Quiet, you," Ryan said offhandedly, turning his attention back to the person on the other end of the line. "Sorry about that."

"Not a problem, Mr. Clarke."

"Im up in room two-oh-eight, and Id like to order room service."


	37. Das Omen

"Okay, Mr. Clarke. What would you like to order?"

"Well," he said, licking his lips and grinning in anticipation. "Id like to order three slices of cherry pie, a large root beer float, four chocolate doughnuts, and a large hamburger with fries."

__

)Sheesh. And you called me_ a sugar-fiend,(_ Elegen sent.

__

)Quiet, you.(

"Is there anything else youd like to order, Mr. Clarke?"

"No. I think thatll be all," he said. "Thanks."

"Youre welcome, Mr. Clarke. Well send someone right up with your food."

"Thanks for that."

Hanging up the phone, Ryan settled into one of the rooms two large chairs to wait for the food he had ordered. He was really looking forward to having a decent meal.

"Well, you enjoy your food, kid. Im going to see what I can do about feeding myself," Aptom said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and levering himself back to his feet.

"Dont stay out too late, okay? And try not to make too much noise. I dont want to end up getting thrown out of _this_ place, too," he advised, knowing that Elegen felt the same way.

"Yeah, I know," Aptom said, waving Ryans words off as though they were annoying flies. "Ill make sure to keep a low profile."

Aptom swept his sunglasses off the table by his bed, settling them firmly over his inhumanly red eyes. Zipping up his black leather jacket as he headed for the door, the former Hyper Zoanoid opened it just in time to see a rather plain woman with short black hair pushing a cart full of food.

"Hey," Aptom greeted casually, waving to her as he walked out.

"Hello, sir. I trust that youre enjoying your stay?"

"Yeah, its great here," Aptom called back over his shoulder as he continued down the hallway and out of sight.

XxXxX

The woman who had been pushing the cart didnt stop to watch as the man in the leather jacket and sunglasses walked past her. Even though he _was_ kind of nice looking, she had other things to think about at the moment. Maybe later, though

As she continued to push her cart, she saw the red-haired boy in the room giving her a charming smile as she came closer. She smiled back.

XxXxX

Aptom, as he skittered down the wall, dug his hand and foot claws into the outer surface to give himself traction, climbing down past windows and the occasional balcony. The reason the people in the hotel hadnt all started panicking at the sight of him climbing the walls the way he was doing was two-fold. Part of it was the simple fact that not many people were looking out their windows or standing on their balconies at the moment. The second part was the fact that the Zoanoid form he was currently wearing he thought it had been called a Dalvax, or something had the ability to bend various kinds of electromagnetic radiation around itself. Being a female Zoanoid, she wasnt as combat-ready as a male would have been, but for all that, she was still one hell of a spy.

Her claws were at least useful for climbing or fighting humans, but she and the rest of her kind would have been dead meat if theyd ever been put up against a Guyver.

Ryan had been right about one thing, at least: it _was_ best they not attract any undue attention to themselves while they were staying in this hotel. For Red, that just meant he had to keep a low profile and stick to that fake name hed been using. For him, it meant thered be no snacking in the hotel itself; even a few unexplained disappearances in a place like that would probably cause him all kinds of unnecessary headaches once the hotel staff got wind of them.

Of course, there was always the option of tossing any and all unnecessary baggage that his would-be snacks had been carrying out with the hotels garbage, then hoping that the staff just figured theyd checked out on their own. Then again, doing _that_ would involve a lot of excess hassle, and there was a pretty big chance it wouldnt work anyway. Hence the need to go hunting _outside_ this pretty little hotel they were both staying in.

The sound of a door sliding open drew his attention, and Aptom paused in mid-descent; after all the trouble he had gone through to conceal his presence, he wasnt going to risk being found out just because he was making a bit of noise. The door of the balcony he was crouching next to opened slowly. He watched, already more than a little bored, as some couple came out and started talking.

When the two of them started kissing, he rolled his eyes and started on his way down again. With what _those two_ were doing, it wasnt likely theyd take any notice of some soft scraping noises. He passed a few more balconies on his way down, but thankfully no one else had the bright idea to go and make out under the stars.

That was a good thing, as far as he was concerned, since he was sure that any more mushy shit was going to make him puke. Aptom wasnt quite sure that he was still _capable_ of puking, but he sure as hell didnt want to find out when he was hanging from the side of a building.

XxXxX

Ryan, after finishing his food and lounging around on the bed for a while, decided to work off some of his excess energy by prowling the halls. The hotel he and Aptom were staying in seemed to be even more high-class than hed thought at first, at least if all the décor hed spotted on his way was any indication. When he passed the group of chattering teen girls, he ignored them at first.

Then, when one of them mentioned Max Pharmaceuticals one of Chronos front companies that he had become very unpleasantly acquainted with he stopped in his tracks and came back over to where the four of them were standing and chatting together.

"What did you just say?" he asked, not wanting to be intrusive and hoping he had just heard wrong and could hence move on.

"Hey, youre kind of cute," one of the girls, a brunette, said as she smiled at him.

"Thanks," he said, flashing his best charming smile at the chatting ladies. "Now, what were you talking about, again?"

"Oh, we were just planning on going to the open house that Max Pharmaceuticals is hosting later. I heard theyre going to be giving out free makeup samples."

Ryan felt a sudden chill. Elegen, knowing they needed to get as much information on Chronos party as possible so they could crash it, kept quiet. There would be plenty of time to plan their strategy in more detail later.

"Is that all? Did whoever told you this happen to mention anything else?" he asked, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt.


	38. One Step Closer

"Why dont you take a look at the flyer?" the blonde suggested. "Maybe you could come with us, huh? Be our date."

"Mara, thats a great idea!" another brunette, this one with short hair, exclaimed as she smiled at Ryan and then her friends.

"Here, take a look at the flyer," Mara said, handing the bright yellow paper to him.

Taking it, Ryan looked it over. It _was_ a pretty good ruse, he had to admit: the flyer itself was about nothing more than an innocent-seeming grand opening celebration at the new office of Max Pharmaceuticals, built of course on the remains of the old Chronos building. Hed heard from Sean before hed decided to be a complete ass and turn most, if not all, of the ACTF against him and get him thrown out how the other Guyver had demolished that particular building with his Mega-Smasher.

"Sure, Ill go with you," he said, needing little more incentive than the fact that Chronos was going to be hosting the party; hed probably be able to find some useful information while he was there without risking himself _too_ much.

"Great!" Mara exclaimed. "Come on, lets get going."

"Im Brenda, by the way," the short-haired brunette introduced herself. "And this is Stacy and Mara."

"Im Damien," he said, deciding that if they werent going to give any last names, he wasnt going to either, even if it _was_ one that he had just made up.

"Nice to meet you, Damien," Mara said, smiling.

He just nodded, following their lead to the elevator and climbing on just after them. One thing was certain in this situation: it was bound to be _interesting._ Here he was, a Guyver, and he was going to try to infiltrate a Chronos building under cover of a party.

__

)You having second thoughts already, kid?(

)I think its just a little_ bit late for that, Snake-head. Im _going_ to see what Chronos has going on at that party. And Im going to at least try to make sure those girls dont get into any trouble while Im at it.(_

)I dont think you need to worry about, them_ kid. Chronos doesnt tend to target civilians in non-combat situations. But anyway, were definitely not gatecrashing?(_

)No Snake-head,( he sent back, with a bit of mental laughter. _)Were not going to be gatecrashing. This is strictly a recon mission.(_

)Not that Im not happy that we wont be picking a fight with the first Zoanoid we see, but why are you going to all this trouble?(

)Well, they always say its a good idea to know your enemies.(

)So youre not going just to eat snacks and meet girls?(

)Thats a bonus.(

When he heard Elegens mental laughter, Ryan turned his attention back to the four other occupants of the elevator, knowing he wouldnt be called on to speak with his "inner-Zoanoid" for at least a little while.

"So, were you thinking deep thoughts, or did you just get bored with all the girl talk?"

"Nah, I was just talking to myself," he said easily.

"You know, Ive always had a thing for the strong, silent type," Stacy said, smiling cutely at him.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I make it a point not to date while Im on the run," he said, smiling so theyd take it as a joke; it wasnt like he could really explain anything to _them_, either.

Sure enough, all four of them started laughing at that. Just the way hed planned it, really.

"You know, youre cute when youre funny," Mara said.

The elevator hummed to a stop, and the five of them stepped off together.

"While you were spacing out on us, Damien, I got us a cab," Mara said.

"Great," he said, then paused as something occurred to him. "Are you sure you can afford it, though? I dont want you bankrupting yourself on my account."

"Dont worry, I can cover it," Mara said, smiling calmly enough that he didnt have any cause to doubt her.

"Well, thats all right then," he said, smiling back at her.

They walked out into the brisk night, and Ryan caught a brief glimpse of someone wearing a dark leather jacket. He wondered for a second if the guy that hed just not-quite-seen was Aptom, off to start his hunting for the night, but then he decided not to think about that; it wasnt like he was going to find out, or anything. Besides, Aptom could take care of himself.

As he settled into the cab with the girls, he wondered for a minute just what he was getting himself into.

XxXxX

Rienzi, standing in an alcove that overlooked the lavishly decorated main room of the newly rebuilt office of Chronos Los Angeles, reflected on how it had come about that he and Waferdanos had been selected for this farce of a party that Chronos was hosting.

Caerleon despised unprocessed humans, and Ingriam could be rather feckless at times; not at all the impression that they wanted to present to the humans. The boy would have to be further educated before he would be in any way prepared to meet the humans of this world. The other Overlords understood him, and it was clear that his father was very partial to the boy, but humans would not be so understanding.

Turning his attention back to the gathered humans, he found that a good number of them had seen fit to contribute their genetic codes to Chronos database. Of course, all of the humans had been convinced that they were donating blood to an undersupplied hospital. He and the other Lords all save for little Ingriam knew full well the company the humans were donating to, Brant Medical Technologies, was simply another of Chronos many front corporations.

"Arent you going to donate any blood, young man?"

"I dont think so."

Turning his head, his attention caught by the somewhat familiar voice, Rienzi listened all the more closely.

"Are you sure? Its for a good cause."

"I think Ill pass."

There was definitely something about the boys voice that he recognized. As he followed it to its source, Rienzi noticed and ignored the looks the humans were directing at him. He knew that his own manner of dress was not what the humans considered mainstream, but as he grew older he found himself caring less and less about the opinions of others.

"Is there any particular reason?"

"Im a hemophiliac."

Rienzi, finally catching sight of the boy speaking, saw the shock of bright red hair that let him know precisely who he was dealing with.

"Oh, well thats different then."


	39. Teenage FBI

__

I should think so, Rienzi mused to himself as he watched the Fifth Guyver in human form so he would be able to blend in with the other humans who had come to this place turning away from the doctor and walking back into the crowd.

__

-Waferdanos.-

-Oh, Yentsui. Its good to hear from you.-

-Unfortunately, Waferdanos, this is not a social call. The Fifth Guyver is here now. If we are careful how we approach this situation, there is a chance that we will be able to capture him.-

-A worthwhile aim, my dear Yentsui.-

-I have_ informed you that I would prefer you not refer to me by that name while I am in this form, yes?-_

-I apologize, Rienzi.-

-I understand.-

Communicating quickly with select Zoanoids stationed throughout the room, Rienzi managed to keep track of the Fifth Guyver as he made his way through the gathered humans. Not for the first time, Rienzi found himself grateful for the fact that the Fifth Guyver had not encountered him. He would not know Rienzi or Yentsui; however, it was more than likely that he would recognize Yentsui as an enemy.

Rienzi, for all his battle prowess, was not particularly fond of combat.

Through the Zoanoids, he learned that the Fifth Guyver was currently standing at the buffet table, looking it over. He personally doubted that the boy would decide to indulge himself, for the simple fact that the Fifth Guyver tended to mistrust anything that came from Chronos.

XxXxX

__

)Okay, so whats safe?( Ryan asked, looking over the spread in front of him with a half-wary, half-hungry expression.

__

)Safe in the sense of not being drugged or poisoned?(

)Yeah, that.(

)Just about everything, kid.(

)Really?( he asked, fighting hard not to raise an eyebrow at that statement.

__

)This is Chronos were talking about here, kid. Theyre not going to be stupid enough to give themselves away by poisoning a bunch of people. Youll want to keep away from those buns, though.(

)Those would be the poisoned ones, right?( he asked with mild sarcasm.

__

)No, they just taste like crap. They start out kinda bland, but its the aftertaste that gets ya.(

)Ill keep that in mind,( he sent, picking up one of the small sandwiches and biting into it with a good amount of relish.

"Hello."

Turning at the sound of the soft, almost monotone voice, Ryan found himself looking at a tall, dark-haired guy. Strangely enough, though, said guy had styled his hair so that it completely covered his right eye. It was weird enough that Ryan had to restrain himself from staring; it would have been rude, for one thing, and for another, this guy had a really strange feel about him. He wasnt quite sure what this guys deal was, but he knew that it wouldnt take much for him to start disliking him.

"It is very nice to meet you," he said, with about as much emotion in his tone as the average computer.

"Gee, could you have made that sound any _less_ sincere?" he asked, falling back on sarcasm in this unfamiliar situation. "I dont think my bullshit-detector went off just yet."

For a couple seconds, he wondered why Elegen was snickering and what the hell he found so funny. Then he noticed that the guy with the weird hairstyle was talking again, so he decided to leave the issue alone for the time being.

"I was truly not attempting to deceive you, Mister?" The lilt at the end of the sentence, combined with the slightest tilt of his head, let Ryan know that was a question he wanted to have answered.

"Clarke," he said calmly. "Damien Clarke."

"Mr. Clarke," he said, again with that creepy lack of inflection.

Still, it wasnt like he was going to be giving out any of his real personal information, and the guy seemed to be satisfied with what hed been told. Which was fine with _him_, since there was no way in hell that he was going to tell this guy who probably worked for Chronos anyway anything even remotely resembling the truth. When he noticed that Elegen was snickering again, he decided that finding out what was getting to his "inner-Zoanoid" would be a lot more interesting not to mention probably more important than listening to whatever else the one-eyed guy was going to say.

__

)Whats with you, Snake-head?(

)Ill tell you after you-know-who leaves,( Elegen sent, still snickering slightly.

Sighing inwardly, he turned his attention back to the one-eyed guy standing next to him at the buffet table.

"Was there a problem, Mr. Clarke?"

"No, I just had a thought," he said, peering a bit more closely at the one-eyed guy while trying not to make it too obvious.

"Would you be willing to share this thought with me, Clarke?"

"I really dont think youd be interested in the random musings of my random mind," he said, still more concerned with Elegens reluctance to speak with him than anything else.

Whatever was getting to him, hed better have a damned good reason for keeping mum the way he was. Luck seemed to be with him for the moment: the one-eyed guy, seeming to lose interest in him after that exchange, turned on his heel and walked away.

__

)Okay, Snake-head, what was so distractingly funny that you couldnt tell me about it in front of ol one-eye there?(

)That makes a grand total of three Zoalords youve mouthed off to,( Elegen sent, his mild snickers turning into outright laughter.

__

)What the hell are you going on about, Snake-head?(

)That was Rienzi.(

)And that meant what_ to me?(_ he asked, confused but not yet annoyed.

__

)It should_ mean at least _something_ to you, kid, since thats one of your worst enemies.(_

)Im sure Id have recognized ol one-eye if Id met him somewhere before, Snake-head.(

)Im not saying youve net him before, Im saying that youve just been chatting with one of your most powerful enemies.(

)Clarification, please?( he sent, starting to feel a slight tickle of annoyance.

__

)Rienzis Yentsui, kid.(

)And once again I find myself asking why the hell I should care. I know youre inordinately fond of that whole cryptic-mentor-guy, but you are not_ that guy. Which is good, given the fact that if I ever _find_ that guy, Im going to beat him to death with his own _liver_, but if its not too much trouble, you think you could just tell me whats on your mind?(_

)Rienzi, or Li Yentsui to use his proper name, is one of the twelve Zoalords. The Seventh, to be exact.(

)Son of a bitch.(

)My sentiments exactly, kid.(


	40. Red Right Hand

Sighing aloud, Ryan turned his attention back to the party he was attending. Hed found out what he wanted to know when he had accepted the offer to go to Chronos little shindig, which was really only the fact that this was the Chronos _he_ was used to dealing with and not the other, more pathetic version that had for some unfathomable reason been giving Sean so much trouble. As he left the table behind, Ryan began to scan the crowd for the four girls hed come in with.

Despite the fact that he wanted few things more than to get the hell out of Dodge, he knew it would be really impolite of him not to tell them he was going or give them the option to leave with him. As he made his way through a particularly thick knot of people, he started getting the same feeling he got when he was being followed. It seemed that some Zoanoid really wanted to talk to him.

Managing to extricate himself from the seething mass of humanity, he walked quickly over to the nearest bit of unoccupied wall space and waited there for the curious Zoanoid to catch up to him. Since this little mission of his was strictly for information-gathering and since he wasnt stupid enough to think that he could take on as many Zoanoids as they probably had in this place without causing massive civilian casualties and probably getting himself killed a few times he was going to at least _try_ to be civil to said Zoanoid.

__

)Oh, I can just hear that conversation: hey, nice to meet you; get the hell away from me,( Elegen sent with obvious relish.

__

)Im going to try for something a little_ less colorful than that, Snake-head, but I think youve got the basic idea.(_

"Hey, kid," the Zoanoid said, slapping a companionable hand on Ryans right shoulder once he was within arms reach.

"Hey," he returned, keeping his face and voice carefully devoid of expression.

"Names Greg. Want to go have a drink with me?"

"Im underage," he said, attempting to turn away and leave without seeming rude.

"Cmon, Ill buy you something you like," the Zoanoid countered, attempting to steer him back into the crowd theyd left behind.

"You dont know what I like, old man," he said, gently ribbing and trying to keep a lid on his fight-or-flight instincts; they were seriously overclocked where Zoanoids were concerned.

"Doesnt stop me from askin ya, kid," the Zoanoid, probably a Gregole given the way hed introduced himself, continued. "So, what would you like me to get for you, kid?"

__

)Are you really gonna let him buy you something? I know I said that Chronos wouldnt give themselves away by drugging or poisoning anyone, but I honestly dont think any of that is going to apply to you.(

)Yeah, Id kind of thought of that already.(

)So how do you think youre going to get out of this one, kid?(

)Just watch and learn.(

"You all right there, kid?"

"Yeah," Ryan said, bringing his full awareness back to the situation at hand. "I was just thinking about something."

"Thinking about what?"

"Right now, how badly I need to use the can."

"_Oh_," the Zoanoid said with a knowing chuckle. "Ill get you where you need to go, kid. Follow me."

So he followed on the Gregoles heels as the Zoanoid made his way through the throng of people. As the two of them waded through the massive crowd, Ryan tried not to see all of the other people inside the Chronos building with him. There was just no way he could do anything even remotely meaningful against however many other Zoanoids were there.

"Here we are, kid. Go on in."

With a quick nod to the Zoanoid, Ryan pushed open the door to the mens room and stepped inside.

__

)That was a pretty good trick, kid.(

)Yeah; I think it might have helped that I wasnt entirely lying.(

)You mean you really-(

)Yeah, I do. So take off, will ya? The one thing I dont_ need while Im in here is an audience.(_

)Take my word for it, kid, I have absolutely no interest in any of your measurements.(

As usual, Ryan could feel it when Elegen had retreated to his normal place at the back of his conscious mind. After he had taken care of what hed needed to, Ryan headed over to the row of sinks to wash his hands.

__

)I know I already told you this, but that was very well-played, kid.(

)You werent by any chance spying on me while I was doing certain things, were you, Snake-head?(

)What kind of perverted sicko do you take_ me for, kid?(_

)That depends; what kind are_ you?(_

They both started laughing at that, both having needed the release that Ryans oddball humor was often known to provide.

__

)So do you have an actual plan for getting us out of here, or is that just one of the things youre just going to make up as you go along?(

)You see that window over there?( he asked, turning his head to let Elegen get a look at the window hed seen when hed first come in.

__

)Yeah, I see it,( Elegen sent. _)So what? Its not like thats going to help us any, kid. That windows attached to the wall; you can see from here theres no way to get it open.(_

Turning the hot tap all the way up, more out of spite than any real strategy, Ryan stepped away from the sink. Walking over to the far wall, he looked over at the frosted glass of the window.

__

)The only thing keeping this thing closed is the caulk around the edges; you think you can burn it off?(

)Im pretty sure that would take more voltage than youd be able to use safely without the Guyver, kid. Are you sure you want to take that kind of a risk?(

)If it gets me out of this little deathtrap, Snake-head, I think I can stand the pain.(

)Well, if youre really sure about that, kid,( Elegen sent as he moved to the forefront of their shared mind.

They had never tried to use this type of sustained, high-voltage discharge in human form before, and Elegen was worried. It was one thing to use short bursts to ward off an attacker, or to use it in Guyver form, where any and all injuries incurred would heal with speed bordering on supernatural. But to use that kind of power in human form for as long as it would take to burn through all the caulk would be dangerous.

Taking a deep breath to prepare himself, and also to let Ryan know that he was about to start, Elegen willed the electricity that was generated by the organs in Ryans back to start flowing down his arm and into his hand. He pressed Ryans index finger up against the caulking that held the window in place.


	41. HighWire Escape Artist

Holding his concentration by breathing slowly and deeply, Elegen increased the voltage until the caulk slowly began to burn away. Elegen could also feel, aside from the sensation of the caulk being burned, the clear indications that Ryans skin was just about at the end of its endurance. That telltale dry crackling, the one that Elegen had always been careful to avoid, was starting. And the worst part of it all was the fact that he wasnt anywhere close to being done with the window just yet.

__

)Just wanted to give you a heads up, kid: youre going to be feeling some pain when you take control again. Unless youd like me to stay in charge while your body recoups.(

)As much as I appreciate the offer, Snake-head, I dont think Ill be taking you up on it.(

)Any particular reason?(

)Summed up in a word? Zoalords.(

Elegen, feeling suitably chagrinned, turned his attention back to the work already in progress. There was now a burning pain radiating up from Ryans right arm, and he was starting to smell the familiar and unpleasant stench of charring human flesh. Looking more closely at how much hed gotten done, Elegen saw that he would have to burn through at least one more side before he could let Ryan have control again. It would even up being longer than that, he knew, if for some reason he was forced to burn through the stuff at the top as well, something he fervently hoped wasnt going to be necessary.

Elegen knew how strong Ryan was, so he was at least reasonably sure that the kid would be ably to kick the window out of its frame. Climbing up onto the small ledge that ran along the far wall of the room, Elegen finished burning off the last of the caulk along the sides of the window. Stepping back down off the ledge, he took one last look at Ryans right hand.

The pointer finger had been burned almost down to the knuckle.

__

)Get ready, kid.(

)Ill be ready, Elegen, and thanks.(

As Ryan felt the control of his body being returned to him, the pain from his burned finger hit him hard. Pushing the feeling aside, he turned and delivered a powerful side-kick to the window. With most of its anchoring points gone, the glass popped free of the frame and swung upward from the force.

Before the window could start its downswing back into the frame, Ryan climbed back onto the ledge and up onto the window frame itself. As it swung back down, the windowpane smacked him on the left shoulder. Then, just as he was starting to recover his balance after having jumped out the window, Ryan heard the door to the mens room slam open.

__

)I guess Rienzi found me out,( Elegen sent, hearing the roars of Zoanoids as they transformed.

__

)Ya think?(

The windowpane flew outward, and Ryan could hear it shattering when it hit the ground behind him. He didnt stop or even turn to look back over his shoulder, instead opting to run like hell the way any sensible person in his situation would have done. The heavy footfalls coming from behind him told Ryan all he needed to know about the Zoanoids pursuing him: there were too many of them.

Of course, as far as he was concerned, even _one_ of them was too many, and from the sound of it there were three on his tail.

He could feel the wind from a near miss as one of the Zoanoids leaped past him. Regaining his balance after dodging a swipe from one of his pursuers, he pushed himself to go even faster. He really wasnt in the mood for a fight at the moment, but hed fought Zoanoids more than long enough to know that they didnt give half a damn about what _he_ wanted. So it was best to get this kind of thing over with as soon as possible.

"Guyver!"

The explosive barrier surrounded Ryan as the armor settled over his body, and he turned at last to face the Zoanoids. One of them had been blown in half and was hence already decomposing, so he only had two to deal with. That was nice, at least.

XxXxX

Through the eyes of the Zoanoid soldiers he had sent out, Rienzi watched the Fifth Guyver fight. The boy was quite proficient at this type of combat; Rienzis only regret was that he had been unable to sent any Hyper Zoanoids after him. Even the cloned Team Five was too valuable to waste on such a mission.

Conversely, the Lost Number Samarubu, though powerful and even somewhat useful given what she was, would be subject to the same weaknesses and instabilities as any of her breed.

As the Fifth Guyver turned away from the swiftly decaying corpses of his opponents, Rienzi sent three more Zoanoids after him just as the boy had retracted his armor. All of the Zoalords had learned, over the course of their many battles with the various Guyvers, that once the host retracted their armor, they would have to wait at least ten minutes before they would be able to summon it again.

It was not known why the armor system had such an exploitable flaw, but Rienzi intended to take full advantage of it.

Watching through the eyes of his Zoanoids, Rienzi watched as the boy named Ryan Crouger broke into a sudden run. If the boy had merely been a human, Rienzi would have been certain that the new Zoanoids would have been able to overwhelm him. As he was, with both a Guyver and a Hyper Zoanoid to give strength to his frail human form, he could not be entirely certain of the outcome of this battle.

Still, there was a comfort to be had in the fact that the Hyper Zoanoid Elegen could not give aid to the Fifth Guyver in any significant way without all of the Zoanoids in the area being made aware of the act. When Rienzi had first sensed Elegens presence, he had been willing to wait to give the Fifth Guyver the benefit of all possible doubt. He knew that all Zoanoids with the clear exception of Lost Numbers, who were defective from their very creation were loyal to their Zoalord masters, and hence to Chronos itself.

Rienzi was uncertain as to the method the Fifth Guyver had used to persuade Elegen to collaborate with him in his escape. Since the two of them were fused into one being and hence physically dependent on one another, he honestly doubted that there had been any threats involved. He would not even consider the possibility that Elegen would be a willing collaborator; Hyper Zoanoids were simply _not_ disloyal.

XxXxX

He could feel the wind from a near miss on his back as one of the new group of Zoanoids after him tried to take a swipe, and he mentally grumbled at the unfairness of it all. God, but he _really_ hated Zoalords.

__

)Just out of curiosity, do you have any_ sort of plan aside from running like hell?(_ Elegen asked, seeming almost afraid of what the answer might be.

__

)I figure once we get into the city we should be okay,( he sent. _)I dont think theres much of a chance Chronos is going to let rampaging Zoanoids run loose out where people can see them.(_

)Okay, I guess you have a point, kid. Still, are you sure about this?(

)Would I be doing it if I wasnt?( he asked, his tone airily self-mocking,

__

)Did you really_ have to ask me that?(_ Elegen sent. _)You really want me to remind you of all your monumental screw-ups?(_

)That all worked out for the best, if you recall,( he sent, mildly annoyed.

__

)It worked out because we worked it out, if you recall,( Elegen shot back.

With nothing more to add to their current conversation, Ryan turned his attention back to the Zoanoids, or, rather, to running like hell to get _away_ from the Zoanoids. He could hear them just behind him, pacing but not moving in yet, and he and Elegen both knew that he wasnt quite ready to recall the Guyver.

__

)Where are you going to go? I mean, if these two yahoos dont break off when you get into the city?(

)If those bastard Zoalords are willing to risk showing these ugly things off where normal people can see them, Ill just lead them back to the hotel.(

)Feed them to the Zoanoid-eater, eh? Thats a good idea.(


	42. Living In Danger

The growls and snarls of the Zoanoids pursuing him drew Ryans attention back to the situation at hand, and he put on a quick burst of speed to get himself out of the range of any grasping hands or slashing claws. Ryan, with all the streetlights to help him find his way back, was starting to see the beginnings of the city proper as he kept running. The sounds the Zoanoids made as they followed him werent fading with increasing distance, and Ryan wondered for a minute just what kind of half-assed excuse Chronos was going to cook up to explain them away.

Of course, now that he himself had the option to recall the Guyver, he was willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that if he transformed, they would probably just tell people they were filming some sort of monster movie or something. Of course, theyd probably just say that anyway.

__

)So were definitely heading back to the hotel?(

)Thats what were going to do, Snake-head.(

Looking around, Ryan managed to get his bearings enough to get back on the path to the hotel where he and Aptom were staying. He took a look over his right shoulder at the Zoanoids chasing him and saw for the first time that they were a Gregole and a Ramochis.

__

)Well, they might be a little bland, but Im sure Aptomll appreciate some extra food.(

)Im sure he will, kid,( Elegen said, seeming uneasy about the whole thing.

Ryan, knowing that he wouldnt be able to say anything that would make Elegen feel better about Aptom and what he did, was at least glad hed paid attention to where the cab was going when it had taken him to Chronos L.A. He was also glad that Elegen had been cooperative enough to _let_ him sit back and watch the scenery.

That was what would get him home, as much as anything.

XxXxX

Aptom, full after his latest meals, was flying back to the hotel. Hed made sure he was high enough that none of the humans scuttling around below him would be able to catch even the slightest glimpse of him. Even if they did manage to catch that elusive glimpse from a higher vantage point, he sincerely doubted that they would believe what they had seen. After all, whod ever heard of a man with giant insect wings?

Aptom laughed, the sound carried away by the whistling winds almost before it could reach his ears. Looking down to make sure that he was still heading in the right direction, Aptom caught sight of a running figure. The red hair wasnt that much of a clue to the identity of the runner, but the two Zoanoids chasing after him made it damned obvious just who the redhead was.

__

That kid never could _keep himself out of trouble,_ he mused with a chuckle. Aptom stopped flapping his wings and almost instantly dropped from the sky like a brick. He landed behind two very surprised Zoanoids, and though he was still pretty full, hed never been one to refuse free food.

Grabbing both Zoanoids by their heads, Aptom infected and absorbed them both before the startled Standard Zoanoids could even start to react.

"How come every time we meet, I end up having to bail your ass out of some trouble?" he asked idly, not really expecting an answer.

"Maybe because Chronos hates me, and right now theyre here in force," the kid shot back, with a lilt at the end of his statement that almost made it sound like a question.

"You know, I think you might actually have a point there," he conceded, chuckling.

"Dont I always?" the kid asked, not even attempting to sound serious.

"Dont get me started on that one, kid," he said, smirking as he ruffled the kids red hair.

With the Zoanoids fully absorbed, Aptom stretched his wings wide and gave them a few experimental flaps. Then, before his little buddy Ryan could turn and restart his own trip back to the hotel, Aptom grabbed the kid under the armpits and tossed him into the air. Jumping before the kid could fall back to the ground, Aptom flapped hard and rose into the sky with speed that would have knocked the breath out of anyone else.

"You tricky bastard!" Ryan yelled, after catching his breath.

Aptom just laughed, and after about half a minute he could hear the kid laughing along with him. Then, as he picked up a bit more speed, he felt the kid tightening his grip on his back.

XxXxX

As they passed over the city, Ryan made a concerted effort to ignore the extremely loud and slightly annoying sound of Aptoms wings beating.

__

)Its like riding on the outside of a helicopter, isnt it kid?(

)I dont know when youve ever had the opportunity to do something like that, Snake-head, but Im sure it would sound about the same.(

Looking out over Aptoms head, he watched the streets and buildings as they passed by underneath him. He wasnt entirely sure if the two of them were any closer to their destination than they had been when Aptom had first picked him up. They were moving in the right direction, he could tell that much, but all of the buildings they were passing looked pretty much the same at this altitude. He could only hope that Aptom knew this rout better than he did, otherwise the two of them were going to be pretty well screwed.

XxXxX

The trail, though it _had_ become rather cold at this point, was still clear enough for the group of tracker Zoanoids that he had gathered to follow. The Alvix models little Ingriam Mirabilis had worked to create had the slight advantage of bearing a strong resemblance to creatures from human mythology. Werewolves, Rienzi recalled after a bit of musing.

Any human who had the misfortune to catch even a momentary glimpse of the force that he was leading would be swiftly hunted down and dealt with by his Zoanoids. Rienzi did not particularly relish the killing of humans; however, there _were_ times when necessity compelled him to act contrary to his personal preferences. The secrets of Chronos had to be kept; all Zoaforms knew this truth.

As his Zoanoids picked the Fifth Guyvers trail out from among the scents of various humans, Rienzi followed just behind; very few Zoanoids were a match for the Fifth Guyver, and certainly none of these here could make that claim.

His keen eyes were now capable of making out the location that the scent-trail was leading them to. It was an old, seemingly abandoned human dwelling. Ordering his Zoanoids to conceal themselves outside and await further instructions, Rienzi moved in; he wanted to know more about this place before it was inevitably torn down.

No refuge for the Fifth Guyver could be permitted to remain intact.

The building itself was something he would have expected of a temporary shelter used by a boy on the run, hopelessly dilapidated. Both of these factors would make this place all the more likely to be overlooked by Chronos patrols and were likely the reason the Fifth Guyver had chosen this location as his sanctuary. Why the boy had left, however, was unknown, and potentially far more interesting.

Using barely half of his top overland speed, Rienzi arrived at the entrance in the time it would have taken a human to blink twice. He could sense his Zoanoids closing in around both him and the building, just as he had ordered them to. The entrance to the building had been secured with two pairs of wooden planks. If he had been at all concerned about maintaining secrecy during this mission, that development would have doubtless been troubling to him.

Instead, without hesitation, Rienzi utilized a low-powered blast to destroy the meager barrier in front of him. Walking inside the darkened building, he searched the dilapidated structure with his enhanced senses. He found it rather odd that the Fifth Guyver would choose to stay in a half-destroyed place such as this.

Human footsteps pounded on the stairs as Rienzi ordered the Zoanoids to come inside as wellthere were Galma as well as Alvix in the group. He sent them ahead to search the premises. The Alvix were to track the scent of the Fifth Guyver; the Galma had been brought to subdue any allies that the boy might have managed to bring to his side.

__

-Go upstairs. I can hear humans moving around in that vicinity.-

As a group, the Galma bowed and then moved quickly to the base of the stairs. Rienzi himself could hear the humans descending, doubtless drawn by his earlier actions, so he ordered his Galma to surround the first-floor landing instead. Watching intently but with no particular interest in the proceedings, he saw six humans of varying descriptions descend to the main floor of the building.

Right into his hands.


	43. I Will Not Go Quietly

Shepherd, who was still wondering if hed done the right thing when hed told Ryan to leave, was the first to spot the seven guys decked out in green bug costumes waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs.

"Heads up, guys. Weve got some weirdos in here," he said, gesturing down at the guys in the bug suits.

As his five friends followed him down onto the landing, Shepherd himself headed over to have some words with the Hellions uninvited guests.

"You guys just come here from a costume party, or were you looking for one?"

"Very amusing, human."

He turned quickly in the direction of the voice hed just heard, knowing that it couldnt have come from any of the costumed kooks in front of him. For one thing, the speakers voice hadnt been muffled the way it would have been if hed been wearing one of those masks. And for another, none of the kooks mouths had been moving; even their jaws had been completely frozen.

When he finally caught sight of the most likely candidate for the mysterious speaker, Shepherd found that the man looked Chinese, which was surprising he hadnt heard any trace of an accent, and also the guy was fairly tall.

"So, whore you?" Shepherd asked after sizing up the man in front of him. "And whats up with your hair?"

Hed seen some fairly weird styles during his time here, this being L.A. and all, but up until just now he hadnt yet seen anyone who had styled their hair so that it would fall over one of their own eyes. But _this_ guys right eye was covered by his thick black hair. It wasnt something that Shepherd would have ever thought to do himself, since that kind of thing would screw with both his depth perception and his range of vision.

Watching as a big guy in a shaggy werewolf costume came up and whispered something in the Chinese guys ear, Shepherd found himself wondering just what was going to happen. Clearly, something was up, but damned if he knew what.

"Where is the Fifth Guyver?" the man demanded, and Shep could almost _hear_ the capital letters in his sentence. "We have been unable to locate him thus far. Where are you hiding him, human?"

The emphasis on the word "human" almost made it sound like an insult, though why the man would want to insult his own species maybe he just wasnt a people person. Or maybe he was just weird.

"The hell are you talking about? I dont know any Guyver," he said, glancing back down at the guys in the bug suits before turning his attention back to their unexpected houseguest.

"Do _not_ try to lie to me, human," the Chinese man said crisply. "I know that the boy came here. And you _will_ tell me where he is now."

"Ill _tell_ you this, mystery man: I dont know what the hell youre talking about. So, if you could just be nice and leave, we could all get on with our lives," he said, trying to be reasonable in spite of his growing annoyance.

The mans single visible eye narrowed slightly, and Shepherd rolled his own eyes and shook his head in disgust; this was going to be trouble, he just knew it. The guys in the bug costumes, he noticed, were still gathered at the foot of the stairs. One of them had split off from the main group, busily trying to keep Gearhead and Sci-fi from leaving the room. Judging by the direction theyd been heading, though, they probably just wanted some chow.

"Why dont you let them go?" he suggested. "All they want is a bit of a snack."

"I am afraid that I cannot do that, human. My forces tell me that the Fifth Guyver has been to this location previously. I intend to find him, and you are going to help me."

"Oh I _am_, am I?" he demanded, raising his eyebrows at the sheer gall of their uninvited mystery man.

"Yes, human, you are," the man said flatly. "I am not particularly interested in whether you perform this task willingly or not."

Just as Shepherd was about to go and help his people deal with the guys in the bug costumes maybe find out what they wanted so he could get them the hell out of their space all of them attacked at once. When he actually managed to score a hit on one of them punching the costumed guy in the left shoulder Shepherd found that what hed at first taken to be some kind of soft, flexible plastic felt instead like metal. Hard metal: hard enough that he was fairly certain that he had just severely bruised his hand.

Though thankfully none of his fingers were broken by the impact. His and the others efforts amounted to pretty much bubkis, too; all six of them ended up being captured by the freaks in the metal bug-suits.

XxXxX

Rienzi watched, feeling a mild, detached sort of satisfaction as the humans were rounded up by his Galma troops. The six humans put up a rather fierce struggle, at least for juveniles of their kind, but they were of course quickly overwhelmed. Even scout-type Zoanoids such as Galma were perfectly capable of subduing a group of juvenile humans.

__

-Good work. Come, we shall return to Chronos now.-

"Yes, Lord Rienzi," his loyal Zoanoids answered almost as one.

Glancing back, Rienzi saw one of the humans staring at him with an expression of frank curiosity. He presumed that the others shared this same sentiment, but he did not particularly care. The humans would invent their own explanation of his presence to satisfy themselves; humans always did.

As his Zoanoids followed him out of the now fully abandoned building, Rienzi began to sense the other Zoanoids he had called responding to his summons. While he may have personally been capable of teleportation, none of Chronos lower-ranked Zoaforms were, and it was certainly impossible for a mere human to do any such thing. Thus, they needed an alternate form of transport.

So he had given specific orders to another group of Zoanoids: they were to come to this location upon his command. Now that he had seen the fighting prowess of these humans, he knew that it would be less of a hassle to transport them in soundproofed trucks, so he had updated his orders. As he and his forces exited the building, he saw that the other group had arrived with the requested transports.

Ordering the Galma to proceed the Alvix out of the building on the off chance that one of the humans managed to escape Rienzi followed his Zoanoids up to the pair of large trucks that had been brought out to him. As he was let into the vehicle by one of the Gregole model Zoanoids, Rienzi could hear the humans being herded into the back of the other truck. The humans of course protested their harsh treatment, but as they had no power to effect changes in their situation, he did not particularly care about their opinion.

No mere human could _hope_ to escape from a Zoanoid.

He wondered for a moment just why the humans had so steadfastly refused to inform him about the location of the Fifth Guyver. In his experience, humans were far more willing to protect one of their own than they were a stranger they had just met. And the Fifth Guyver could not have known these humans for more than a day, since he had not been sighted in this area for more than two days.

It was an odd thing for him to consider, the fact that humans would be so willing to protect a virtual stranger.


	44. You Are Not Alone

The white-furred Enzyme II purred softly as the young Zoalords fingers gently scratched the space between his insectile-armored head and his left shoulder. Gently rubbing his head against the Zoalords abdominal muscles, the Enzyme II tilted his head up so he could look at his Lord through his left pair of eyes. If anyone had asked him who his favorite Zoalord was anyone he personally trusted, anyway he would have told them that, out of all of the Twelve, Lord Ingriam Mirabilis was the one he liked best.

The kid treated the Standard Zoanoids like a bunch of really big pets, at least when one of the other Lords wasnt sending them off to die at the hands or blades, or what-have-you of the various Guyvers. Still, as far as he was concerned, it was much better to be thought of as a pet than as brainless cannon fodder. At least Overlord Ingriam actually _cared_ when they didnt come back.

Laying his head in the Zoalords lap, taking care to make sure he didnt drool, Enzyme II kept purring. The kid seemed to be enjoying the sound, and he would have been the first to admit that hed be lying if he said he didnt enjoy the petting. Still, nothing this calm and peaceful could last forever.

Not for a Zoanoid, anyway.

"Ingriam, what are you doing?"

He instantly recognized the calm, almost toneless voice of Overlord Edward Caerleon. He only just managed to repress a shudder. That guy was plain _creepy_.

"Oh, ah, Edward," the little Overlord said, sounding surprised, and a little guilty besides. "I was just taking a little break."

He could practically _feel_ the little Overlord fidgeting as Overlord Caerleon stared down at him.

"Rienzi had made his report," the Sixth Zoalord said at last, obviously opting to just ignore him; something to be grateful for, at least. "He has said that, under his command, a group of your Alvix models found traces of the Fifth Guyvers scent inside an abandoned mansion. He has also informed me that they were able to aid in the capture of a group of humans that had been staying inside that building. He will be bringing them to this facility for processing shortly."

"Um, are you really sure that thats a good idea, Edward?" Overlord Ingriam asked, radiating worry and uncertainly. "I mean Dad told me that Guyvers can sense Zoanoids. Wouldnt the Fifth Guyver be able to sense them?"

Turning to look at Overlord Caerleon, Enzyme II wondered just what the elder Zoalord was going to say to that. He found that he had to give Overlord Ingriam his due, even if the kid was a Zoalord himself. There just werent many guys with the balls to talk back to Creepy Caerleon like that.

As the little Overlord moved his hand to another spot, down below the armor on his left shoulder this time, he repressed the urge to shudder. If Overlord Caerleon had picked up on that last thought well, the consequences didnt really bear thinking about.

"What would you suggest he do with them, then?"

"Well, um I think wed want to keep them unprocessed for as long as we can. Dad says that Sho Fukamachi and Ryan Crouger are a lot different than each other. And Ryan _really_ doesnt like Zoanoids."

He himself hadnt gotten access to any kind of reports on the Guyvers, since those kinds of things were reserved for Zoalords and certain elite Hyper Zoanoids, but he knew at least a few things about how the Fifth Guyver operated. The gossip channels in this new base might not have been nearly as well established as they had been in the older bases, but Hypers still talked, and Standards still talked, and all of them still shared the same huge eating area.

It was one of the more concrete demonstrations of the old adage that what "they" didnt know wouldnt hurt them in this case, the Twelve. Suffice it to say, Enzyme II had at least _some_ idea of how ruthless the Fifth Guyver could be when it came to dealing with Zoanoids.

There was no way that a bunch of Sleeper Units were going to be able to do a job that even his fellow Guyver-killers had a hard time with. Unless one of the Zoalords decided to make that bunch into Guyver-killers. Then he wasnt quite sure how the fight would go.

XxXxX

They had landed and made their was back into the hotel awhile ago, and Ryan had just managed to restrain himself from belting Aptom across the face. It was more out of sheer annoyance than anything else, since that bounce hadnt done much good for his stomach and his ears were _still_ ringing. Now that he was back in the hotel room lounging on the huge, comfortable bed, he decided that it wasnt really worth the hassle.

"So, you gonna tell me just where you were and what it had to do with those two walking appetizers you brought me?"

"Not much to tell, really," he said with a shrug. "I just went to scope out the enemy stronghold and got discovered." Ryan flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling before he had finished saying the last word.

"You were just out taking a tour of the new Chronos L.A. building?" Aptom asked, raising an eyebrow and sounding like he was either about to laugh or just shake his head.

"Yeah, thats about it," he chuckled. "Basically."

"Youre starting to get really into the whole spy-guy thing, arent you?" Aptom said, smirking.

"Well, they always say that you should know your enemies," he said, trying to sound sage and wise and all that good stuff.

"They were giving out free food, werent they?"

He sat right back up after that, slightly indignant. "Why does everyone always assume that thats my motivation?"

"Because it usually is," Aptom retorted, snickering.

Lobbing the pillow at Aptoms head, he was completely unsurprised when the Zoanoid-eater ducked, and only mildly so when he caught it and threw it back. Pulling it back out of the air, Ryan shoved the pillow back behind his head.

"You suck," he said, rolling over on his side so he could stick his tongue out _at_ Aptom rather than just towards him.

"Thats what you always say when I win an argument," Aptom said, grinning back at him.

Rolling his eyes, Ryan flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "Still, it _was_ a waste of a perfectly good meal. And all those snacks, too."

"Aww, are you sad because you had to burn off all those nice calories youd taken in while you were hanging out in the Chronos L.A. building?"

"Yeah, that," he said, smirking slightly as he pulled the covers up and over himself.

"Gnight, kid. Sleep well," Aptom said, flipping the light off.

"Night, Aptom," he said, rolling over on his stomach so he could fall asleep.

__

)Nine million positions in this world, kid, and you just had_ to pick that one. And here you wonder why you wake up sore all the time.(_

)Talk later; sleep now.(

)What do you think Ive_ been doing for most of the day? I think Im at least entitled to do a little exploring on my own here, kid.(_

)That only works when were wearing the Guyver, Snake-head. Or maybe you need to be reminded-(

)I remember how we got here, all right?( Elegen snapped. _)I was right there with you when we flew over.(_

)Then you should at least remember how long it took us to recover from doing that. Now shut up and let me sleep.(

Elegen gave the impression of sighing in resignation. _)Sweet dreams, kid.(_

Ryan yawned, nestling the side of his head into the hotel pillow and waiting to drift off.


	45. Master of No Mercy

__

Thank God for gossips, Galma thought as he made his up to the hotel room where the Fifth Guyver or at least someone fitting his physical description had been reported to be staying. The hotel was a nice one, and Galma found himself wondering just where the kid had managed to get the money to stay in a place like this. Shaking his head at the sheer strangeness of a kid who didnt have any real source of income staying there, Galma tried to push those irrelevant thoughts out of his mind.

He didnt know how the kid had managed it maybe he had friends or family in the area. Either way, it didnt really matter, since the kid and whoever hed gotten to stay with him would soon be "guests" of the Chronos Corporations L.A. branch. Those hostages Lord Rienzi taken were a good idea, but as far as Galma was concerned they were really just icing on the cake.

Moving down the hall toward the elevator, he signaled to a pair of Davu. The Davu, clean-cut blonds who could have easily passed for twins, nodded and wordlessly fell in behind him.

From a few of the more talkative maids, the higher-ups had managed to find out just where the Fifth Guyver was most likely staying. None of them had phrased it that way, but they had more than enough pictures of the kid to flash around; someone fitting that exact physical description was staying here. It was either the kid himself or a close relative.

Either way, they were taking him in.

The three of them werent the _only _Zoanoids in here looking for the kid, of course, since that would have been monumentally stupid. There were also five Alvix, provided by the little Overlord Ingriam Mirabilis, and three Razell from old Doc Balkus.

When Galma and the Davu accompanying him finally made it to room 208, he ordered them to wait for the Alvix and the Razell. He didnt want to take the chance that the Fifth Guyver would be able to slip past them, since that would invite some drastically unpleasant consequences, and Galma had no intention of making that kind of monumental screw-up.

Hearing the steady plod of footsteps as they came down the hall to meet him, Galma turned to look that way. He didnt know yet if these newcomers were Zoanoids or not, but as he didnt feel like explaining himself to a bunch of idiot humans, he hoped they were. Sure, he could lie with the best of them, but at the moment all he wanted to do was to get the kid and get back to Chronos with him.

Luckily for him, the footfalls that Galma had been hearing turned out to be coming from the group of Alvix that little Overlord Ingriam had sent out. He had a moment to be grateful for small favors before he and his fellow Zoanoids entered the hotel room.

What they found there wasnt what any of them would have expected. What they found there was Aptom. The Zoanoid-eater was grinning at them (never a good sign), but what he _said_ really chilled Galmas blood.

"And here I didnt even order room service."

The hungry grin on the Zoanoid-eaters face made Galma wish he was somewhere else; his orders still stood, though. Galma knew that he needed to get the Fifth Guyver back to Chronos if he was going to live through the rest of the day. If that meant that he was going to have to find a way to get past the guy that could infect and devour him with a single touch, then that was what he was going to have to do.

Prepping himself for a sudden, headlong rush, Galma was completely unprepared for the storm of Synevite tentacles that burst from Aptoms front and sides. He had about half a minute to wonder when the hell the Zoanoid-eater had managed to get his hands on a Synevite before said Zoanoid-eaters tentacles latched around his neck. Galma didnt even have time to scream before Aptom had started to devour him.

XxXxX

As he made his way through the dark-but-not-really-dark streets of Los Angeles, Ingriam thought back to what Mr. Lord Caerleon had told him to do. There were some people who worked for the CIA whatever that was who had also been working for the old, stupid Chronos L.A. Mr. Lord Caerleon had said that he wanted him to get rid of them all. They were all humans, so Ingriam already knew he didnt like them.

And if Mr. Lord Caerleon wanted him to get rid of them, that was what he was gonna do.

Besides, being cooped up in the Chronos L.A. building even if it _was_ really big, and he had uncle Waferdanos there to talk or play with had started to get really boring. And, though he really tried hard not to think about it, neither Mr. Lord Caerleon nor Mr. Rienzi were very fun to be around, though that was probably just because they were all here to work.

Ingriam didnt know; hed never really met Mr. Rienzi, and Mr. Lord Caerleon didnt seem to want to spend time with him when they _werent_ working.

That was when Ingriam remembered that _he_ was supposed to be working right now, too; turning his attention back to the job, he kept walking.

No matter how long the job might end up being, at least he was out of the Chronos L.A. building and away from all the boring things going on there. And maybe he could talk to Dad after hed gotten done with what he was supposed to do here. He hadnt talked to Dad in a while, mostly because he was so busy, but now hed be able to tell Dad about all the good things that he was doing for Chronos.

It wasnt very long before Ingriam had found the building Mr. Lord Caerleon had shown to him in his head. The building looked all gray and boring on the outside, but it looked like it had been taken care of, too. He could also sense that there was a Lost Number in therejust one, but that was _more_ than enough. Ingriam _really_ didnt like Lost Numbers: they were stupid and useless, and one of them kept trying to _eat_ him!

Growling under his breath, Ingriam strode up to the door and punched the knob in frustration. The impact of his fist smashed a hole in the door, and Ingriam walked right in after that.

"What the hell?" one of the humans, the one on the right, who had darker skin than even Mr. Luggnagg, demanded. "How the hell did _you_ manage to find out about this place?"

"Someone _told_ me, duh," he said, annoyed at the presence of the Lost Number and just wanting to be done with this stupid job so he could talk to Dad.

"Youd be well advised to get out of here. Were under the protection of some very powerful people," the other human, the one who didnt have dark skin at all, said.

"Thatd be Chronos," he said, not really interested in hearing what either of the humans had to say.

"How do _you_ know about Chronos?" that man, the one on the right, demanded, sounding annoyed and suspicious.

Finally coming to the end of his already-limited patience, Ingriam blew the humans head off with a Gravity Bullet. He was a stupid jerk, and Mr. Lord Caerleon had already said that he wanted them dealt with. Then hed said he wanted them dead, when Ingriam had asked him what he meant by that. Before the other human or the Lost Number could say anything, Ingriam lifted his left hand and fired another Gravity Bullet.

The force of the blast tore open the failed Zoanoids chest, scattering the bloody remains over the patch of floor and wall by where hed been standing.

"What- what did you do that for?" the single remaining human asked, looking like he was scared but trying not to sound that way.

"I dont like Lost Numbers," he snapped.

"I thought Chronos would tell us if anything new came up." The last of the humans sounded mad. "I thought we _worked_ for Chronos."

"Mr. Lord Caerleon says youre fired," he giggled.

Then he used the wind attack, the one that Mr. Dr. Balkus had taught him to use to make the entire building and the three dead people inside it go away. Making his way back out, walking on top of the broken little pieces of the place where the stupid humans and their stupid Lost Number had been hiding, he could hear sirens. He wasnt worried about that; Mr. Lord Caerleon had said that he would take care of it.

And besides, there were probably just more stupid humans in those cars.


	46. Not Myself

Aptom, finished with his meal and working to assimilate the few memories that hed gained, took a moment to be grateful that he slept in the nude. Of course, what he did couldnt really be called _sleeping_ in any real sense, but he could lie quietly and not move for a while when the mood struck him. He didnt really remember what it was like to actually _sleep_, when it came down to it.

At the moment, however, he was more concerned with what he was going to tell the kid.

On the one hand, the whole setup with those damned hostages had "Chronos Trap" written all over it, and in blazing neon letters, no less. On the other, Ryan wasnt _nearly_ as naïve as Sho when it came to those things. Hed do what he had to.

In the end, Aptom decided to tell him; what Ryan did with that info was entirely up to him.

Walking over to the other bed, Aptom gave the kid a soft shove. Said kid mumbled and rolled over but didnt budge aside from that, so Aptom shoved him a bit harder. Ryan sat up, but when he opened his eyes, Aptom knew that he wasnt talking to Ryan.

"Whatre you doing out here, eel-face?" he drawled, looking into the glowing, yellow eyes of the one entity hed hoped not to have to deal with.

"Kids asleep; whyd you _think_ Im here." Eel-face sounded pissy; Aptom couldve given a shit.

"Well, wake him up already. Ive got news."

"Whatever."

The yellow eyes closed, then half-opened, green this time.

"Do you have _any_ idea just how fucking late it is?" Ryan was swaying as he talked, head drooping and then suddenly jerking back up, blinking rapidly.

"Chronos just kidnapped a bunch of people," he said, just to see how Ryan would react.

"Thats great," the kid muttered, flopping back into bed. "Good night."

Aptom chuckled lowly, lying back down on his own bed. That had gone pretty much like hed expected it to. Still, for all that it was funny.

XxXxX

When he came back to the Chronos L.A. building and went back inside, he found someone there who he really hadnt expected to see again. Someone he really hadnt _wanted_ to see again.

"Whats _she_ doing here?!"

"Samarubu was dispatched from the Africa Section on my orders, when reports of the Fifth Guyvers presence here had been confirmed," Mr. Rienzi said.

"Looks like youre stuck with me, kiddo."

Mr. Rienzi belted Samarubu across the room, slamming her into the opposite wall and even making her bounce off it in a really funny way. He was glad that Mr. Rienzi had done that; she was a stupid Lost Number and had really deserved that, and he would have probably done it himself if Mr. Rienzi hadnt.

"I may have given the order for you to be transferred here so you might be of _some _use, Lost Number, but you _will_ show the proper respect to your superiors or I will have you sent back just as easily."

When Mr. Rienzi turned away and started walking down the hall, back into the main part of the building, Ingriam turned his attention to the Lost Number. Dad had said you couldnt ever trust them, and when he saw her glaring at Mr. Rienzis back, he slapped her right across the face.

"Stupid Lost Number," he snapped, turning to follow Mr. Rienzi deeper into the building.

He was going to head back to his room and see if Dad wasnt too busy to talk with him. He really hoped he wasnt; he had _so_ many new things to talk about!

__

-Ingriam.-

-Yes, Mr. Rienzi?-

-I would also like to inform you that I will be leaving this facility again shortly to deal with the human prisoners that our forces have acquired.-

-Okay.-

-I would like you to keep in mind the possibility that I will request your services in the future.-

-Okay, Mr. Rienzi, I will.-

-Good. I will speak to you later, if it becomes necessary.-

-Okay. Bye, Mr. Rienzi!-

XxXxX

Watching as the two Zoalords left, Samarubu hissed between her teeth at their retreating backs. They were bastards, and she hated each and every one of them. All because of the fact that she was one of a kind, unique in all the world, they despised her and treated her like trash.

Shed heard some stories about a small group of Lost Units fighting against Chronos mostly rumors and speculation over the various gossip-chains and she often found herself wondering if they had any allies, and if so how they were treated. It wasnt like either of them if they even existed at all, and werent just some fantasy created by a desperate Lost Unit were close enough to ask, though, since both of them had been reported to be in Japan.

There _had_ been a few mysterious disappearances: fuel for rumors that Aptom was in the area. Sam was both curious and eager at the prospect of meeting him. He was pretty much _the_ guy, the one that most of her fellow Lost Units were talking about. Aptom, according to them, was The One That Got Away, with the obligatory capital letters.

What made the situation even funnier in the eyes of everyone who talked about it was the rumor that Dr. Balkus himself, the man who hated the Lost Units and everything having to do with them, had been the one whod created him in the first place. Or recreated himaccounts differed on that point, and it wasnt like the old bastard was going to come out and claim responsibility for making the guy. Still, all of that didnt stop her from having some laughs at the old bastards expense.

Discreetly, of course.


	47. Violence Fetish

The guys in the green bug costumes were shoving him again, hustling him and the other five Hellions out to the old, empty parking lot that bordered the collapsed remains of something that might have once been a fairly large high-rise, if the size of the parking lot was any indication. There were also a bunch of earth-movers in the area, so it was fairly obvious that these guys, whoever the hell they were, were rebuilding something. Looking around at his friends, Shepherd found that they were all staring at the mysterious Chinese guy with varying degrees of loathing.

Shepherd found that he couldnt really blame them, since it _was_ pretty much his fault that theyd all ended up in this situation in the first place. Him and his fellow whackjobs, Shepherd thought angrily; turning to glare at the jerks in the bug costumes. He could even hear one of them talking to the Chinese guy, though their voices were too low for him to make out anything beyond that basic fact.

"What the hell was that all about?" he demanded, once the bug-costumed guy had finished his little chat.

"Nothing _you_ need to know about."

"Hey, if you dont have anymore idea whats going on than I do, you can just say so. You dont have to be such an ass about it," Shepherd shot back, figuring that one method of getting answers was as good as another.

"Look, kid-"

"Galma. Leave it."

That shut up all of the guys in the bug costumes. Looking up at the front of the line, where the Chinese guy was walking, Shepherd found out for himself who the ponytailed Japanese guy was supposed to be. Hed just showed up, wearing an outfit that made him look like a weirdly discolored version of Scooby-Doos Fred with a denim jacket, and seemed to invite himself along.

No one had seemed to care, aside from the Chinese guy. Hed seemed not happy, since he never seemed to show any emotion at all, but like hed expected the other guy to come along. Shepherd thought that that was pretty weird, since as far as he knew Japanese people werent very friendly with Chinese people.

And what the hell kind of a name was _Galma_, anyway?

When the two guys leading their little parade stopped hed decided to nickname them long-hair and short-hair, respectively, since he honestly doubted that hed ever find out their real names he wondered what they were waiting for. Short-hair had been the one to stop first, but long-hair had been just a couple seconds behind him. It was like they shared a brain or something; fucking creepy.

The guys in the bug costumes seemed to be following short-hairs lead, though there were times when they seemed to take orders from long-hair. He didnt really know what to make of _that_. When theyd all finally stopped, long-hair and short-hair both seemed to be waiting for something.

The way they were both staring up into the sky almost make him want to crack a Superman joke, but now didnt really seem to be the time for it; it was kind of lame, anyway.

XxXxX

__

-Do you really think hes going to come, Mr. Rienzi?-

-Yes, young one. The Fifth Guyver, while not nearly as self-sacrificing as Guyver One, has still proven himself rather unwilling to see his fellow humans killed when he can prevent their deaths by his own actions.-

Left unsaid was the sheer, ruthless pragmatism that the Fifth Guyver was capable of displaying when his life, or the lives of one of his close friends, was placed in too much danger. There was no true method of predicting it, and it would have only confused the issue. Ingriam tended to become paralyzed by indecision when too many variables were introduced into an equation, so things were best kept simple when he was there.

The young Zoalord nodded, and Rienzi turned his attention back to the Galma who guarded their human bait.

He supposed that he had to give the humans apparent leader his due. It was not many who would have thought to gain information from a Zoanoid via insulting them. The fact that the Fifth Guyver had often used just such a method only served to make Rienzi all the more certain that the Fifth Guyver had been in close contact with them.

Their feigned ignorance was clearly a ruse meant to protect him.

The loud flapping of wingswings that sounded exactly the same as those of a Galma-type Zoanoidwas the only warning Rienzi received of the attack before it came. Bio-laserfire fell from the sky, and two of the Galma were killed with barely a struggle. Looking farther upward, he saw that Aptom and the Fifth Guyver were launching a concerted attack on their position.

The humans naturally took the opportunity to run from the scattering Galma, while both the Fifth Guyver and that annoying Lost Number provided covering fire for them.

__

-Spread out! Do not_ give your enemies such clear targets,-_ he ordered as the two most persistent enemies of Chronos continued to carve their way through his forces. _-Young one, those crates you were sent from the Japan Section? Now would be the time to utilize their contents.-_

-Oh, right.-

He could sense young Ingriams mind reaching out to the Zoanoids that had been sent to them from the Japan Section. Nodding to himself, knowing that they would soon have the aid of Dr. Balkus latest Guyver-killer, Rienzi turned his attention back to the battle at hand.

__

-Take the air,- he ordered calmly as another Galmas head was shattered by the Fifth Guyvers Pressure Cannon.

Sensing the minds of approaching Zoanoids, primitive minds that had no true thoughts of their own, Rienzi smiled slightly. They had arrived.

The shrieks and screeches of the Enzyme IIIs as they attacked brought a somewhat wider smile to Rienzis face. Dr. Balkus had designed this particular breed of Guyver-killer to be resistant to both the Guyvers weapons, as well as those that Aptom commonly utilized. They were also equipped with a certain other faculty. He wondered idly just when that useless Lost Number would become aware of them, and of the effects that they would have on him.

Doubtless, such a discovery would prove entertaining at the very least.

XxXxX

As he dodged another volley of acid, Aptom looked back down at the ground. The Zoabrat seemed fairly pissed at him; probably had something to do with how many times hed tried to have the little brat for lunch. _He_ was still annoyed that his most recent attempt had cost two of the others their lives. And, just as a further kick in the proverbial ass, he hadnt managed to get so much as a _taste_ of the little brat.

Needless to say, Aptom wasnt too thrilled with those developments, but he figured that snacking on a few Zoanoids would make him feel better. The flying Enzymes looked like theyd make good snacks. It wasnt like he actually _needed_ any of the improvements that this new group of Enzymes was sporting, though having a spiked tail to add to his arsenal _would_ be kind of fun, but a meal was a meal.

__

Morphing his arms into two pairs of Synevite tentacles, Aptom pumped his wings and headed straight for the nearest of the flying Enzymes.


	48. If You Never Say Goodbye

As he used the Pressure Cannon to messily decapitate another of those damned flying Enzymes, Ryan started to hear someone screaming. It took him a couple minutes to recognize the screaming, mostly because he had a lot of other things to worry about at the moment, but even after that it still took him some time to realize just _what_ that screaming meant. It was Aptom; that much he was sure of, but it sure as hell didnt sound much like he was having his psychotic brand of fun with the Zoanoids around them.

And it didnt sound like he was trying to _intimidate_ them, either; it almost sounded like he was in _pain_

Turning around instead of trying to hunt down yet another of those flying Enzymes, Ryan caught his second glimpse of Aptom. It was a hell of a lot different than his first, for damned sure. The stumps of what had probably been a pair of squidlike tentacles, since that was what Aptom had wrapped around the Enzymes body from the other side, waved from Aptoms left shoulder.

There was a definite expression of pain on his face, as well as a look of mixed shock and horror when he turned to examine the stumps sticking out of his shoulder.

__

)Whats up with him?(

)Dont know, Snake-head. But whatever it is, he looks like he could use some help with it.(

)Do we have_ to?(_

)Yes, Snake-head, we have to. He might be one of the more annoying people we have to deal with, but hes still one of our friends.(

)He tried to eat you, you know.(

)Yeah, and thats the only reason youre_ here to fuss about it, you know?(_ he returned, mimicking Elegen tone for tone. _)Heck, if anything you should be _thanking_ Aptom for trying to eat me the way he did. Talk about being _ungrateful_.(_

Tuning out Elegens incoherent grumbling and rather colorful swearing, Ryan found his attention suddenly occupied by the stream of acid that came blasting at his head. Flipping legs-up, he performed a quick midair split to avoid it. Driving forward again, he dodged two more streams of the stuff, before he finally made it close enough that hed be in the perfect position to nab Aptom after hed finished dealing with the damned flying Zoa-nuisance.

__

)One Victory Fastball Special, coming right up,( he growled mentally.

__

)Hell of a cheesy name, but I guess I cant argue with the results, kid,( Elegen said, with the mental equivalent of a chuckle.

Winding up like hed seen a few of his dads favorite ball players do in the past, he fired the Pressure Cannon at the unsuspecting Enzyme. The blast tore the oversized bug-mans head right off, and Ryan quickly grabbed Aptom around the waist and hauled ass out of there before the last of those weird, flying Enzymes could think to come after him.

Or rather, before either of those damned Zoalords could _make _it think to come after him.

XxXxX

Young Ingriams boot heel smashed a modest-sized hole in the asphalt, and for a moment Rienzi mused upon just what kind of a cover story could be used to explain away the results of the Ninth Zoalords petulance.

__

-Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!-

-Calm yourself, young one,- he said, stepping forward so he could softly rub the young Mirabilis shoulders.

It was well known among the Council that the child responded well to most forms of physical contact, and sure enough, Ingriam began to relax into his hold.

__

-But he got away_! I wanted him to _die_!-_

Ingriams grievance was indeed a valid one; to attack a Zoalord was death, and it was the prerogative of the Lord in question to grant or to withhold that death. Ingriam had been attacked three times now, and while it was clearly true that all three of the attacks had taken place while the child was still merely a ward of his father, the Ninth Zoalord did indeed have a valid claim on the Lost Numbers life. However, Imakarum had one as well.

As Rienzi helped Ingriam teleport back into the lower levels of Chronos Los Angeles facility, taking the single Enzyme III that had managed to survive the battle along with them, he reflected upon how odd it was that Aptom had managed to survive long enough to allow two Zoalords to make claims on his life. Then again, Aptom _had_ proven on numerous occasions just how far his regenerative abilities were able to carry him in a fight.

The creature was entirely too resilient.

As he and young Ingriam herded the sole remaining Enzyme III into a nearby processing-tank so it could regain its lost strength and stamina, Rienzi smiled thinly as he remembered what Dr. Balkus had said about these, the newest iteration of the Enzyme model Zoanoid. If the Second Zoalords assertion had indeed been correct, and he had no reason to doubt the veracity of the doctors words, then Aptom would soon cease to be a threat to _any_ of the Chronos Overlords.

"What are _you_ looking so happy about?" Ingriam demanded, sounding annoyed and more than a little petulant. "Aptom and that stupid Guyver V got away!"

"I highly doubt that Aptom will have such an easy time of things as you seem to think, Ingriam."

"What do you mean by that?" Ingriam asked, his expression now entirely confused.

"Imakarum told you nothing about these Zoanoids?" he asked, turning a surprised gaze on his fellow Zoalord.

"Dad never says anything to me anymore," Ingriam said, splaying his fingers against the chill Plexiglas of the processing-tank. "Not really."

Rienzi sighed almost inaudibly; truly, there were times when it was positively difficult to discern whether Imakarum or his son was the more childish of the pair.

"Your father was given these Zoanoids by Dr. Balkus. In addition to their anti-Guyver weaponry, they were also equipped with countermeasures that prevent Aptom from being able to absorb them for sustenance. Also, the doctor mentioned one other special feature, something that would severely incapacitate Aptom by rendering him incapable of regeneration."

"Thats great!" Ingriam clapped his hands once, looking extremely pleased.

Then, before Rienzi begin to properly react, the boy-Zoalord threw his arms around his chest and embraced him tightly. Knowing that it was better for the childs mental health if he was treated well, Rienzi wrapped his own arms around the young Ninth Zoalord. Gently stroking the childs back, he wondered for a moment at the uncertainty he could feel radiating from the boy.

__

-Do you think Dads going to be happy, too?-

-I am quite sure that your father will be pleased with these developments, yes. To say nothing of Dr. Balkus feelings on the matter,- he added, in spite of the fact that Ingriam clearly cared less than nothing for the Second Zoalord and anything having to do with him.

__

-Do you think maybe hell come back? Dad, I mean. Do you?-

-Perhaps he will at that,- he said, stroking the young Ninth Zoalords hair in an effort to be reassuring.

__

-I hope so.-


	49. Found Out About You

When Aptom started swearing againloudly, repeatedly, and in several different languagesRyan sighed and rolled his eyes. This routine had been old before itd started.

__

)You see him shutting up anytime soon, kid?(

)Not much chance of that, Snake-head. Not unless one of us does something, anyway.( "Whats up your ass _now_, you maniac?"

"Its not healing," Aptom snarled, actually sounding genuinely _angry_ instead of just annoyed; not a good sign, that.

"Whats not healing?" he asked, turning slightly so he could give the impression of talking _to_ Aptom instead of _at_ him.

"My arm, you twit!" he hissed.

Ryan turned completely around at that pronouncement. Sure enough, the twitching stumps of a pair of Synevite tentacles were the only things that stuck out of Aptoms right shoulder.

"Wow," he said, staring at the pitiful remains of Aptoms right arm. "What the hell happened to _you_?"

"I think it was something I ate."

"The only thing you ate was- oh _hell_."

"Yeah, that new Enzyme," Aptom growled. "I dont know how that asshole Balkus managed to cook them up, but Im _really_ going to enjoy beating the information out of him."

"Yeah, I can just see you getting close enough to get your hands on _him_," he said, with a derisive chuckle.

He saw Aptom rolling his eyes. He knew he was right, though; Balkus had probably created a whole squad of those freakish, flying Enzymes to be his personal bodyguards. Vicious as he was, Aptom wouldnt get past them, not with what they could do to him. The look on his face seemed to say he knew it, even if he hated the fact that he did.

"Hey, you two!"

He and Aptom both turned at that voice, catching sight of the Jeep and the woman in it who had just hailed them. Curious, both of them knowing that they would be fully capable of dealing with anything that might come up, Ryan and Aptom moved to investigate. The car wasnt big enough to hold more than one of those new Enzymes, and it was open-topped, so theyd have been able to see anything nasty before it could have been sprung on them.

Aptom, not wanting anyone else to know about his "little problem", pulled his leather jacket back up over his right shoulder and zipped it closed. Stuffing his right sleeve into his pocket to further the illusion, he followed Ryan up to the Jeep.

"Anderson?" the kid asked, sounding fairly surprised. "What brought _this_ on?"

"Whos he?" the soldier-girl asked, looking at him; he grinned back briefly.

Ryan, remembering just then how fanatical the ACTF was about security rightfully so, under the circumstances had just started working out what he was going to say when Aptom interrupted.

"Im a lot of things. It just depends on whos asking."

"Oh, youre a _riot_," he said, rolling his eyes. "Ignore him; hes just messing with you. Anyway, this is Aptom. Hes on our side."

"You sure hes clean?"

"Hes a bit of a dork, but hes all right," he said, then winced as Aptom smacked him on the shoulder.

"Good to hear. Anyway, your names been cleared, so lets head back to the base."

"How did _that_ work out?" he asked, confused and a bit wary.

"Sean caught one of the Zoanoids gloating about what theyd done. Just for a few seconds, before another Zoanoid killed that one."

"Jee_sus_," he groused. "Do they breed for stupidity here or something?"

"Maybe," she said. "Anyway, lets get back now. Ill radio ahead so they know weve got another person coming in."

As they climbed into the Jeep, Ryan could see Aptom was thinking hard about something. He even thought he could make a guess about what it was. But, as the doors were closed behind them and the Jeep started up, he decided not to mention it.

XxXxX

Mr. Rienzi had been gone for a while, and it was just him alone with the Zoanoid that Mr. Dr. Balkus had made. The one that Dad had _asked_ him to make. _Dad asked Mr. Dr. Balkus to make these Zoanoids. He probably told Alkanphel all about them, and I know he told Mr. Rienzi, so why didnt he tell me? Doesnt he like me anymore? Did I do something wrong?_

He couldnt really think of anything, though, and none of the other Zoalords could, either. At least, none of the ones that wanted to talk to him about things, anyway. Mr. Dr Balkus still kind of scared him, he didnt know if Alkanphel had woken up yet, and Mr. Jearvill and Mr. Khan would just pat him on the head and tell him not to worry about that.

Patting the processing-tank with the weird-looking Enzyme in it, Ingriam turned and left the big, empty lab behind. He was hungry, and he thought that Mr. Rienzi might want to talk to him again. All of the humans hed wanted to catch to help beat the Fifth Guyver were all gone, so Mr. Rienzi would probably want to go get some more. Or maybe hed want to try something else this time.

XxXxX

His right shoulder was starting to itch something fierce, so Aptom was at least reasonably sure that whatever that damned flying Enzyme had done to him it was starting to wear off.

The ACTF base itself almost reminded him of Chronos: same emphasis of function over form and all. All it really needed was some processing-tanks and some guys in blue jumpsuits with stupid-looking helmets to complete the illusion. Of course, _that _kind of familiarity after what those bastards had done to him would have likely driven him into some kind of a homicidal rage, so it was probably for the best that this place _didnt_ remind him too much of Chronos.

The guys in the uniforms had the same self-important attitudes as the Standard Zoanoids hed been unfortunate enough to have to work with, so it took a lot of restraint to keep him from sticking out a leg to trip one of them. After all, the worst thing a _human_ could do was punch him in the face.

Even so, getting punched in the face was something he liked to avoid on general principle, even though he _could_ give better than he got.

Looking around again, trying to distract himself from the sheer monotony of this place, Aptom noticed that the Army guys seemed to be getting more and more edgy the farther they got down the hallway. He looked over at Ryan to see if hed noticed the same thing, but no, the kid had that blank "nobodys home" look he always got when he was chatting with eel-face. There were times Aptom had almost started wondering if _hed_ get that same look on his face if he ever decided to chat up one of his old meals. But, since all of them were bastards and there was a decidedly mutual hatred between all of them, hed dropped the notion pretty much as soon as itd come up. Just as he was starting to wonder what eel-face found so damned fascinating, Ryans eyes fluttered and he came out of his stupor.

"What were you two gabbing about?"

"Just deciding how to deal with Sean if he decides he still wants to be an ass to me. Elegen said hed probably back off if I threatened him with a 250-volt bitch-slap, but I wanted to get your opinion first."

He had to quickly bite back the giggles that were trying to force their way out of his throat. Not just because they would have made him sound crazy something he didnt honestly mind that much, but now wasnt really the time for it but because he wanted to find out what all the soldier-boys were so edgy about. When hed finally managed to regain some of his composure, he smirked.

"I think eating crow will shut him up for a while, kid. But if it doesnt, then go ahead and threaten him with a few hundred volts. From what you told me, _that_ greenhorn needs all the sense knocked into his head he can get."

"Youd be Aptom, right?"

Turning, he saw a dark-skinned man of about his height and build looking him over.

"I might be," he said, returning the mans scrutiny. "Whos asking?"

"Im Lieutenant Colonel Aiden Atkins, frontline commander of the ACTF. Im glad to be able to meet the two of you. Aptom, would you come with me please?"

"That depends on where it is youre going," he said, folding his arms. He wasnt one to trust easilyany one of his old comrades could have said thatbut it was something any Lost Unit would have learned from their time in Chronos: only your closest friends could be trusted.

"Sean told me what you were capable of. I just want one of our docs to look you over, maybe see what you can really do."

"Nothing too invasive, right?"

"You have my word," Atkins said, looking serious enough that it was clear that _he_ believed what he was saying.

Aptom decided to give the man a chance; he was only human, so itd be easy enough to deal with him if he was lying. "I guess I could go along with that."


	50. Everything’s Falling Apart

He and Atkins headed in the direction of what he had to assume was the med-lab, while Ryan broke off and headed somewhere else; probably to look for Sean. Waving to the kid as they broke away from each other to go about their various self-appointed tasks, he grinned slightly as the kid waved back. Then he turned his attention back to where he was going.

He wondered a bit, what it would be like to have his exam done by an actual _doctor _rather than one of those damned lab ratssomeone who had no preconceived notions about how utterly worthless Lost Units were. They reached the med-lab, and Atkins opened the door to let him in; common courtesy wasnt so common when you were a Lost Unit in Chronos, so he was grateful for the gesture. The lab itself looked like every other lab hed ever been in, with the obvious exception of the processing-tanks youd find in almost every Chronos lab.

Settling himself down on the nearest examination table, Aptom crossed his arms and waited for the doctor to arrive. He didnt have very long to wait.

"So youre the man Ive heard so much about. Aptom, right?"

"Thats right," he said warily.

"Do you think youd mind if I took some blood and tissue samples?"

He barked a semi-amused laugh. "Bloods fine, but I doubt youll want to bother with the tissue. Theres not much of a difference between the two of them."

"Wow. You mean to tell me that your bodys _that_ much different than a humans?" the doctor asked, sounding amazed rather than disgusted. It was a point in his favor as far as Aptom was concerned.

"Different from a human, different from a Zoanoid; Im pretty much my own _species_ by now," he said, grinning. "You can thank Dr. Balkus for that."

"Doctor Balkus?" Atkins asked, looking back at him with an expression of obvious curiosity. "Ive never heard of him before. Does he work for Chronos?"

"You _wouldnt_ have much chance of hearing about him. Hes kind of reclusive. Hes a member of their ruling Council, and he doesnt like to go out of his labs much."

"Chronos has a ruling council?" the doctor asked, sticking the needle he was holding into Aptoms left arm and slowly drawing a sample of the Lost Units blood.

"That would be the Chronos Overlords," Atkins said, to Aptoms mild surprise.

"Well, I see you have at least _some_ idea about who youre dealing with," he said, glancing back at his arm just as the doc stuck another needle into it. "Thats good."

"Murakamis a good source of information."

Snapping around to look Atkins square in the eye, Aptom ignored the jab of yet another needle into his arm. "_What_?"

"Masaki Murakami. Hes been working with us since just after we met Sean, helping us to take down Chronos. In return, weve been keeping him out of harms way as much as we can. Him and his son, that Kenji kid, have been our best and most hidden assets for awhile."

"I wouldnt count on that," he said as he watched the doctor draw what he personally vowed would be the last vial of blood from his arm. As it turned out though, the doc agreed; another point in his favor.

"What do you mean by _that_?" Atkins asked, looking uncertain.

"I _mean_ you shouldnt trust anything else he tells you about Chronos from now on."

"Why would that be?" Atkins asked, sounding dubious but willing to listen to reason; Aptom hoped he was.

"Because what youre dealing with is a façade. Someone whos going to do everything in his considerable power to make sure that Chronos knows about anything and everything you people have planned for them."

"_What_? Why the hell would he try to do that after all weve done for him?"

"Didnt we already cover this ground? Hes not Murakami anymore," he snapped, beginning to become annoyed. How anyone could have fought Chronos for this long and not know about their greatest coup he didnt know.

"How is that possible?" Atkins asked as Aptom stood up and pulled his leather jacket back on.

"Ever heard of reprocessing?" he asked in return, calmly heading back to the door.

He heard Atkins following him and watched as the man stepped out in front of him to open the door so they could both leave.

"Weve learned a great deal about Chronos processing procedures, both from Barker and from our own investigations, but Ive never heard of this reprocessing before today."

"Its just what it sounds like," he said calmly, continuing on his way down the hall; he needed to talk to the kid about this. "Ive been reprocessed a few times myself; its whats made me what I am now." _Whatever _that_ is._

"Fair enough, but what does your situation have to do with Murakami?"

"He _did _tell your people what he was, right?" he asked, turning a Look on Atkins.

"Yes. Murakami told me that he was a Proto-Zoalord. Why?"

"Did any of your guys actually manage to find out what a Proto-Zoalord _was_?" he asked, morbidly curious.

"None of the databases weve raided has contained any information about that. However, I think it would be a safe assumption that they have something to do with Zoalords," Atkins said as they both continued on their way to the ACTFs command center.

XxXxX

It, like most of the things that could have hinted at the ACTFs true purpose, was designed to be collapsible and easily transportable. As far as anyone else in their main center of operations and, by extension, anyone outside the Army at large knew, the soldiers stationed in this remote-seeming outpost in west L.A. were a large part of the Combat Research Division. Having spent long stretches among the other soldiers both before and during the first days of the ACTFs formation Atkins had long since stopped paying attention to the jibes thrown at him and his people by the others stationed on the main base with them.

Aptoms response drew his full attention back to the present, back to the situation with Murakami, and, likely as not, his son.

"Well, youd be right about that much, at least. From what Ive heard, a Proto-Zoalords the first step toward making a full Zoalord."

"Thats what Chronos did to Murakami, then," he said, thinking aloud as he and Aptom rounded the last corner between them and the ACTFs command center for this base.

"Yeah, only in _his_ case, it was reprocessing with a side of heavy-duty brainwashing. And thats not even getting into what they did to his kid," Aptom said, leaning against a desk.

Atkins, meanwhile, had been making his way toward one of the computers, intent on updating the files they had gathered on Chronos with the new information Aptom had provided for him. The strange mans revelation, however, stopped him in his tracks.

"_What_?!"

"Who was brainwashed?" asked Sergeant Larry Henderson, the man whod been at the computer Atkins had initially been heading for.

"Murakami," he muttered, still not quite sure if he believed it yet; hell, he didnt _want_ to believe something like that could happen.

He knew Chronos, but _this_

"Youre _shitting_ me. Masaki Murakami? The same Masaki Murakami who would have gouged out his own eyes with a rusty fork before hed give those Chronos bastards more than the finger and a couple dozen homemade bombs? The guy who told our side everything he knew about how to take down a Zoanoid and live to tell about it? _Hes_ working for _Chronos_?"

"Ive got some doubts about that, myself," he said looking to Aptom, who only smirked in response.


	51. Sucks To Be You

"Why dont you try calling him, then?" Aptom suggested, yanking a nearby phone off the hook and holding it out with the air of a cat up to its whiskers in cream. "Call him Imakarum; see how he reacts."

"Imakarum, huh?" he asked, stepping over to Aptom, retrieving the phone and hanging it back up. "How do you propose I make contact with him? He never calls from the same place twice. Its one of his security precautions."

"Well, I _did_ manage to find out the phone number of Chronos Japans Cloud Tower. Thats where he usually stays."

The phone that had formerly been resting in Aptoms hand started ringing then, and Atkins answered it before the echoes of its first ring could fully fade.

"Howd you get this number?"

"Its M," the low, deep voice on the other end of the line answered calmly.

"Murakami," he responded, over the badly suppressed snickers of the Zoanoid-eater beside him.

"Hello again, Atkins," the man on the other end of the line said calmly.

"Its good to hear from you again, Murakami. Your timings a bit ironic, though. We were just talking about you."

"You and some of your soldiers, I take it."

"No, not this time," he said, then paused as he felt someone landing a solid punch on his shoulder.

Turning toward the source of the impact, he saw Aptom holding up a sign in his right hand. The Zoanoid-eater was also holding up his left hand, but the hand itself had been reshaped into some kind of claw that looked like it would have been more suited for the body of some giant, Zoanoid crab. Reading the hastily scrawled sign, Atkins found that it contained a rather blunt warning: tell him Im here and Ill wring your puny little neck.

Giving Aptom an annoyed sidelong glance, Atkins turned his attention back to Murakami, who had been waiting very patiently for him. It was nice to have _some_ understanding, at least.

"I apologize for the interruption, Murakami. Our newest associate was just making a bit of a fuss about being revealed. He almost reminds me of you, that way."

When Aptom guffawed, then settled down into more badly suppressed snickers, Atkins was almost tempted to turn and demand just what he thought was so incredibly funny. But he had the sense that the Zoanoid-eater would share his thoughts when he was good and ready, or at least when it would most amuse him to do so. This was the only time that he had any substantial contact with the man, particularly since Chronos had reportedly tightened security on the airports in Japan.

"Youre starting to make me curious, Atkins. Who _is_ this mysterious new associate of yours?"

"You might have heard of him. He says his name is Aptom. Its likely hes been fighting Chronos for at least as long as you have."

There was almost dead silence on the other end of the line for a full minute, leading him to wonder if Murakami had been discovered, before the other man came back on the line.

"Yes, Ive heard of him. Hes been a real thorn in Chronos side, from what Ive gathered."

"Have you managed to learn anything new about Chronos, or anything else that they might be planning?"

"No. As Ive told you before, theyve tightened internal security." Murakami paused for a moment. "Why are you asking me this again, Atkins? Do you have any reason to _doubt_ the information Ive given you?"

"Youve never given me any reason to doubt your intel, Murakami," he said, trying to be reassuring and diplomatic at once. "However, we have Aptom with us, and I was just curious if you knew anything about him."

"Aptoms there with you? At your base? Atkins, where are you?"

Murakami sounded harsher than usual, his question almost a demand. Atkins mentally berated himself: this was Masaki Murakami he was dealing with. He would _never_ try to help Chronos, not after all theyd put him through.

"You know I cant do that, Murakami. However, if you could manage to get far enough out of Chronos immediate sphere of influence, I could arrange for someone to pick you up."

"Really?"

He heard something over the line then, like a soft, electronic chirp.

"What was that?"

"What was _what_ Atkins?"

"I heard something."

"Are you sure about that, Atkins? _I_ didnt hear anything, and Id thank you to remember that my hearing is a great deal better than yours."

A small thread of suspicion began to take root in Atkins mind at those words. Murakami had never bragged about his abilities in all the time he had known the man. In fact, the few times hed managed to get the man to actually _talk_ about how different he was from your average human being, Atkins had always found that he seemed to _regret_ the changes.

As much as he hated to have to consider that kind of possibility, it was starting to look like Aptom had known what he was talking about.

"As much as Ive enjoyed our conversation, Murakami," he said, trying to be civil though it was getting hard to contain his suspicions, "Ill have to cut this conversation short."

"Atkins, if I didnt know better, Id almost think you didnt trust me."

Narrowing his eyes, Atkins decided that it was time to find out if the intel Aptom had given him was true or not. "Maybe I dont, Imakarum."

Murakamis chuckle, low and deep and more cruelly amused than anything Atkins had ever heard from the man before, didnt do anything to alleviate the bad feeling gnawing at the pit of his stomach. If anything, it made it made it worse.

"You know, Lord Tuaha wanted to start a betting pool about how long it would take you to realize you were being played. I _almost_ thought you would have realized this when your Utah base was attacked. Then again," he laughed, cold and harsh, "youre only human."

The bad feeling intensified all the more, and Atkins felt a cold chill creep up his spine. "Who is this Tuaha?"

"One of my fellow Lords."

"Murakami, you" He trailed off, not quite sure what he could say to a man who had all but admitted to betraying everything he had ever fought for.

"Masaki Murakami is dead." Imakarums cold chuckle came over the line again. "By the way, I have your location now, Atkins. You wont live to annoy me again."

The line went dead as Imakarum hung up, and Atkins numbly replaced the receiver on its cradle. He was still remembering the way that Murakami no, he was Imakarum now; Murakami would never have done anything like this had referred to the Chronos hierarchy as his "fellow Lords", rather than just the Chronos Overlords. That was the final nail in the coffin as far as he was concerned.


	52. The One and Only

Walking away from the phone, already working to put the events of the last few minutes behind him, Lieutenant-Colonel Aiden Atkins began to formulate the rudiments of a plan. Just then, the doctor who had examined Aptom one Jayne Anderson walked into the room.

"Sir, I think youre going to want to see this. Would you come with me, please?"

"What is it, Dr. Anderson?" he asked, putting aside the plans he had begun to formulate.

"Its about Aptom, sir. But I really think youll want to see this for yourself, sir."

"Ill be right with you, then, doctor," he said, then turned back to Sergeant Henderson. "Henderson, make sure that everyone knows that were going to be having some company soon."

"Yessir."

Nodding, Atkins left the room, intent on finding out what Dr. Anderson thought was so fascinating about Aptom. The man in question followed, though thankfully his normal chatter was absent; his patience had been frayed more than enough for one day. An icy rage settled in the pit of his stomach as Atkins thought about his last conversation with the man who had once been one of the ACTFs not to mention Earths best hopes at stopping Chronos from conquering the world.

Part of it was anger at Murakami himself, no matter _how_ irrational that was. Still, most of his animosity was reserved for Alkanphel, the unseen, mysterious leader of Chronos. Of course, since he had never seen the Zoalord or been given any reports about him aside from the fact that he existed, he still had no concrete target for his hatred.

Maybe that was for the best; bringing your emotions into combat would only get you killed. Atkins knew that as well as any soldier.

Not wanting to deal with the physical and mental headaches that resulted from attempting to command large units of Lost Numbers, Edward Caerleon had simply gone ahead and incinerated them all. The child, Ingriam Mirabilis, _had_ put forth the idea of using those worthless creatures as live targets for the Anti Chronos Task Force, but those pitiful excuses for Zoanoids were far more likely to turn and run for their lives than to stand and fight like true soldiers of Chronos. He would have thought the boy would have learned that lesson from his dealings with the Lost Number Samarubu.

The mere thought of such a one was abhorrent to Edward on a fundamental level. Female Zoanoids were not _meant _to be prey to the same weaknesses as their male counterparts. It was a troubling thought that one of Dr. Balkus most basic Zoanoid designs could be subject to such a defect.

In that way, he could both understand and sympathize with young Ingriams desire to be rid of herlikewise the mass execution of the scientists responsible for her creation. Though it _was_ a rather childish and impulsive course of action, it was also one he could fully understand the motivation behind.

Humans, like Zoanoids, were easily replaced; if they were incompetent or defiant a charge that he could level at humans and Lost Numbers alike it was the prerogative of their commanding Zoalord to dispose of them.

"I cant believe Chronos played me like that," Sean growled for the third time in as many minutes.

"_I_ can," Ryan muttered as Sean whipped around and started pacing again.

"What was that?" the other Guyver demanded, snapping around to glare at his younger counterpart.

"Thanks for proving my point, Sean," Ryan said, smirking back.

"Whats _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Just that you, personally, are a stubborn, arrogant hothead who can barely _look_ at someone without jumping to conclusions about them."

"Name _one_ time Ive done that," Sean snapped.

He gave the other Guyver a Look for that. "The first time you heard about my situation with Elegen," he countered immediately. "When you found out that I didnt fit whatever stupid idea you had of what a Guyver was _supposed_ to be, you just assumed that I was your enemy. That I was untrustworthy."

"That doesnt count!" Sean snapped. "_Youre_ part Zoanoid!"

"Gee, and you _wonder_ how Chronos managed to sucker you," he said, barking a laugh. "Youre still proving my point, Sean."

Sean looked pissed, like there was nothing that would make him happier than to haul off and deck him. In fact, he was poised to do that very thing which would have started one hell of a tussle between them when Atkins came in.

"Barker, Crouger, you boys come with me."

"What is it, Atkins?" Sean asked, dropping his stance and looking a bit worried. Good for him.

"Its about Aptom."

"Something wrong?" he asked, not particularly believing that was the case but wanting to cover all his bases.

"Just come with me; Ill explain the situation on the way," the Army guy said, still sounding a bit worried, but not about Aptom.

He wondered for a moment just what was going on to make Atkins so concerned, but then again he _was_ probably going to find out. _With my luck, probably at the worst possible time _Wordlessly, he followed Sean and Atkins out of the room.

"What happened to Aptom?" he asked warily, still remembering the crazed look in the man-things eyes as he had devoured that huge, armored Hyper Zoanoid alive.

Sean wasnt feeling anything like _sympathy_ for the Hyper Zoanoid, since he hated all of them on general principle, but the blatantly obvious enjoyment that Aptom had gotten out of killing that Hyper Zoanoid still gave him the creeps.

"From what Ive managed to find out from the doctor, something about that new Enzyme you fought severely affected his metabolism when he fully assimilated it."

"That damned Enzyme III got him worse than we thought, huh?" Ryan groused, speaking for the first time since theyd left their temporary quarters with Atkins.

"Wait, Enzyme _three_?" he asked, stopping in his tracks to stare at Ryan.

"Well, the things we faced were _definitely_ Enzymes, and none of them were model IIs since they could fly and all so Id say that calling them Enzyme III isnt stretching things that much."

"So, in addition to an as-yet unspecified number of Hyper Zoanoids and a Zoalord who knows our current location, we now have to deal with an entirely new breed of Guyver-killer."

"Thats about the size of it," Ryan said, nodding sharply.

"What do you mean, about a Zoalord knowing our location?" he asked, concerned.

"Barker, you remember what I told you about Masaki Murakami?"

He nodded. "I remember. You told me that he was working for our side. Why? Has something happened to him?"

"Murakami was subverted by the other side. Aptom called it re-processing; said it was done to him a few times. He calls himself Imakarum now."

"Wait, youve been feeding information to _Imakarum Mirabilis_?!" Ryan demanded, looking completely shocked.


	53. Never Gonna Stop

"I take it from your tone that the two of you have met?" Atkins asked.

"Yeah, weve met," Ryan said, not sounding particularly enthused about the fact. "That bastard damn near tore me apart the first time we tangled."

"When was that, for future reference?" Atkins asked, looking both stern and curious.

"It was in May sometime. I remember that much because I was kinda worried about school for a while. Just until Imakarum showed up, though; after that, I was mostly worried keeping myself from dying a horrible, splattering death."

"I can imagine," Atkins said. "Waitthe two of you fought each other in _May_? Youre not from Colorado Springs, are you?"

"Thats where I grew up," Ryan confirmed.

"That was where that so-called movie stunt was reported as happening," he said, turning a respectful expression to Ryan; he hadnt seen the place where theyd fought, but from the reports, it sounded like one hell of a scrap had gone down there. "That was you taking on a _Zoalord_?"

"Thats about the size of it," Ryan confirmed with the kind of offhanded nonchalance that could only come from a combat veteran.

Or someone who was particularly stupid, but Ryan didnt strike him _that_ way. The three of them arrived at the bases med-lab just then, which precluded any further discussion about the fight between Ryan and Imakarum. If he had been in a more reflective state of mind, he might have thought it poetic that one of their new allies had essentially replaced one of their old ones.

As it was, however, he just made a mental note to ask Ryan more about his fight later.

"So, whatd you guys manage to find out about everyones favorite homicidal maniac?" Ryan asked, drawing Seans attention back to the matter at hand.

"It seems that hes being affected by some sort of viral strain," Dr. Greymalkin said, turning to face them. "Which seems more than a little strange, when you consider that according to every test Ive run Aptom himself is essentially a sentient viral strain. In fact, Im almost inclined to call the reaction that new Enzyme model had to him some kind of immune response."

Just then, Aptom looking more than ready to spit acid himself came stalking into the main area of the med-lab.

"Its like that damned kid all over again," he snarled, not seeming to notice or care, for that matter that there were other people in the room with him.

"What kid?" Sean asked warily, not liking what Aptom had implied. It might have been something completely innocent, but with Aptoms attitude, he doubted that.

"None of your damn business, kid," the Zoanoid-eater snarled, clearly annoyed.

"What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?!" he demanded, stepping closer to the Zoanoid-eater. He hadnt thought that even _Aptom_ could be that sick.

Then again, hed been associated with Chronos, and Chronos was willing to go to any lengths depraved as they might very well be to secure their control over the world. Hed learned that, if nothing else, after all the time he had spent fighting them.

"Calm down, you two," Atkins said sternly. "I dont want any fights breaking out, not here. And especially not among allies."

"Youre _defending_ him? Hes all but _admitted_ that hes been attacking kids!" he shouted, giving Atkins a Look.

"Look, kid, Ive had a really _bad _night," the Zoanoid-eater snarled, his left hand crunching, running, and reshaping itself into something that looked completely identical to the oversized blades at the end of the wrists of that Hyper Zoanoid hed faced (the greenish-white one whose name he couldnt remember). "So, if you insist on giving me shit about this, I will _gladly_ remove your face, greenhorn."

"Oh, is that a fact?" he demanded, stepping forward to confront the Zoanoid-eater head-on and ignoring the blade that was even now pointed at his chin.

"That is _enough_!" Atkins roared, shoving his way between them and somehow managing to force them apart.

Sean thought he could hear someone snickering in the background, but that wasnt really what he was focused on at the moment. Aptom was the one he wanted to settle with right now.

"I have just received a message from Imakarum," Rienzi said calmly as he let the door to Edwards office close behind him. "The Anti Chronos Task Force is located in a facility outside of Los Angeles. The facility itself seems to be of the temporary sort; I surmise that it would prove rather simple to eliminate them there. I doubt, however, that this force is the entirety of our enemies military power. Even humans are not so clumsy as to concentrate themselves when they know what they are facing, and these humans would seem to."

"Yes, I would tend to agree with you, Rienzi," he concurred, rising from the seat at his desk; it was one of the few things in this worthless building that he had no desire to replace. Incompetent fool the former overseer might have been, but he at least had good taste in furnishings. "Has Ingriam been informed of this?"

"I doubt it," Rienzi said. "The boy has stated that Imakarum has not been in contact with him of late."

No doubt that the child had also stated his fond desire to reconnect with the Twelfth Zoalord. "Thats rather odd," he said, not particularly concerned things between the two Mirabilises would work out or they would not but puzzled as to why Imakarum had not rushed to reconcile with his child; it seemed the kind of thing that he would do without hesitation. "Have you managed to locate the boy?"

"I have," Rienzi confirmed, as the two of them made their way out of his office. "The boy has returned to his quarters."

He nodded wordlessly, allowing Rienzi to proceed him down the hall toward the temporary quarters that they had established at this pathetic excuse for a Chronos facility. All of their rooms occupied the same general area of the tower, and as he could sense the presence of Waferdanos as well, he decided that it would be a great deal more expedient to retrieve the Third Zoalord as well as the Ninth.

"Rienzi-"

"Yes, I have sensed him as well, Edward," the Seventh Zoalord stated calmly. "I think it would be far more expedient if one of us were to make contact with Waferdanos before we attempted to speak with Ingriam. The child appeared to be somewhat distraught when I left him."

"I suppose you would know such things better than I," he said, deciding to defer to Rienzis judgement on that matter: he and Waferdanos were the ones who spent time with Imakarums son by choice.

When they came into the section of the tower that housed their temporary quarters, he bypassed the door that would have lead him into young Ingriams room, as well as the one beside it. That was Rienzis. His own room was directly opposite Ingriams; it was the one next to his that Waferdanos stayed in.

Rienzi was the first to arrive, as well as courteous enough to hold the door open while Edward himself went inside. The two of them now stood in the Third Zoalords room, and Rienzi quietly closed the door behind them. Even with the absence of that pathetic Lost Number trash that had been infesting this facility, the casual discussions of Zoalords were not for the ears of their inferiors.

"Waferdanos, Imakarum has just made his report: he has discovered the location of the facility that the Anti Chronos Task Force is currently operating out of."


	54. Over My Head

"Is that so?" Waferdanos inquired, turning away from the potted plant that he had been tending. It might not have been a part of his vast forest kingdom, yet it was still a reminder of who he truly was. "Then I suppose that these impudent humans will have to be dealt with."

"Indeed," Li Yentsui or Rienzi, as he preferred to be called for some reason said, as calmly as ever. "We need only to retrieve Ingriam; then we will able to prepare to move against them."

Nodding, Waferdanos followed his fellow Zoalords out of his room. Soon, however, he began to notice that Li and Edward were subtly falling back, allowing him to take the lead in their impromptu procession. Turning a curious look on the two younger Zoalords, he saw Li give him a slight nod; apparently, he and Edward had thought it best that Waferdanos himself speak to little Ingriam first. Nodding back, he entered the room to do just that.

The boy-Zoalords room was sparsely furnished, though given the childs personality, he doubted that the lack of furnishings was due to anything more than the lack of time or resources to transport them. There were times that he found himself wondering just how Luggnaggs quarters had changed, now that there was a Zoalord who was both loyal to their cause, as well as very young occupying them. The former was most likely less of an influence than the latter, particularly with this one.

Still, Chronos Nigeria would likely be an interesting place, considering its new Overlord however, the location could wait; it was the Overlord himself that he was seeking now.

Making his way over to young Ingriams bed, he saw that the boy-Zoalord had once again taken refuge under his bedclothes. He seemed to do that whenever he was overcome by the stresses of his position and all that it entailed, or just when he became overwhelmed by life in general. It seemed to be happening more often now that his father had chosen to focus more completely on his work.

Many times, Waferdanos thought that young Ingriam would be a great deal happier if Hamilcal were allowed to cleanse his mind of the memories that were causing him such anguish. For one thing, the boy-Zoalord would no longer suffer the pain of the heartache he was so clearly prey to. He had quite often thought to suggest such a thing, either to Hamilcal Balkus or to Ingriam himself, but the opportunity had never come up.

Now, just before what was sure to be a grand and hard-fought battle, was _certainly_ not the time.

Sighing, Waferdanos gently touched the back of young Ingriams head.

__

-Wake up, little seedling, we have a lot of work to do.-

-Uncle Waferdanos?-

-Yes, little seedling, Im here for you now.-

-Is Dad with you?-

-No, little seedling,- he said, moving to stroke the boy-Zoalords head, so that he would not feel so bereft upon hearing those words. _-Your father is _not_ here. I am certain that he would be proud of you, if he could see how well you have done for yourself, however.-_

Ingriam said nothing more, and so Waferdanos merely held him. If he closed his eyes, as the boy-Zoalord himself had no doubt done as well, he could almost say that the little ones hair felt like flower petals. Still, this was not such a time for idle musings or simple comfort, much as their little Ninth Zoalord doubtless wished it was.

__

-We should be making preparations to leave this place now, little seedling,- he said, mindful of the childs distress, stroking his hair to make him feel better. _-We have a battle to be won.-_

As the boy-Zoalord had pressed his head up against Waferdanos chest, the Third Zoalord could feel him nod; as he helped the little one to rise from his bed, he saw Ingriams left arm uncurling from a small, weathered-looking plush tiger. He was not honestly surprised by the fact, knowing that the boy-Zoalord would have needed at least some form of comfort while he was alone. Still, there were times when Ingriam could truly be too fragile for his own mental health; Waferdanos couldnt recall ever meeting someone who based their own self-worth so much on the opinions of others, or one with such a low opinion of that selfsame thing.

Certainly none of the rest of the Council was so other-directed as little Ingriam.

XxXxX

The Armory, the motor pool, and even the mess hall were all humming with activities of varied natures. All of the ACTF soldiers there knew that the battle ahead was going to be a tough one; they had all been briefed that there were at least two Zoalords in the area, and while none of them thought the names Ingriam or Rienzi sounded particularly intimidating, they all knew from the reports just what a Zoalord could do. That was enough to get them to take the men, if not the names themselves, completely seriously.

As weapons were gathered and prepped, and bits of gallows humor were exchanged, most of the soldiers couldnt help taking at least a brief look over at a particular table in the mess hall. All but the most strictly disciplined of them couldnt resist passing by the table where both of those Guyver kids were sitting. Both of them seemed focused solely on stuffing themselves with as much food as they could get into their mouths. Sure, they were both eating at a normal if not sedate pace, but the number of empty trays that lingered around them for however long it took the mess hall staff to notice were a mute testament to how much those boys were really putting away.

Most of the onlookers just thought that was their way of dealing with the stress of the impending battle, but there were those who speculated that their performance in battle would be directly affected by how many calories they took in beforehand. Needless to say, they were the ones providing most of the food. Just as Ryan had finished off another steak, Lieutenant-Colonel Atkins came up to the table where the two Guyver boys had parked themselves.

"I certainly hope you boys are full by now," the Lieutenant-Colonel said, as Ryan and Sean grinned at him. "Well be moving out shortly, so I suggest you two get suited up."

"Whatever you say, Atkins," Sean said, pulling himself up out of his seat and clapping Ryans left shoulder. "Cmon, Ryan, lets go get dressed. We wouldnt want to be late for _this_."

XxXxX

__

)Yeah, whod want to be late to their own funeral?(

)You know, Snake-head, you should try not to sound so cheerful right now. People might think youre not taking things seriously.(

)Oh, bite my ass, kid. Youve seen how these guys fight. They might be all big and bad when theyre taking on Zoanoids, but you should know by now that those kinds of skills are worth shit when youre trying to fight a Zoalord.(

)Im sure they have a fallback position, Elegen. Theyd have to be idiots not to, and no one around here strikes me as particularly idiotic.(

)Yeah, but how many of them are going to be alive to reach it, Ryan?(

Ryan sighed, blinking as he realized he was now standing in an empty section of the base.

"What were you and Elegen talking about?" Sean asked, looking curious but and this was the important part not wary.

"I was just getting subjected to the Bizzaro World version of a pep talk, I think."

"What?"

"Never mind that, Sean, lets just get ready."


	55. Calm Like a Bomb

Sean nodded, and they both stepped a few feet apart so they could summon their Guyver units without knocking each other back by accident. The simultaneous blasts as their Guyvers were summoned from the boost-dimension rattled the floor where they stood, even causing it to crack in places. Fortunately for them as well as the ACTF, Sean had made sure that they would be standing far away from anything important when they changed.

Guyvers IV and V decompressed their breather units almost at once, then moved forward to take their places at the head of the group of soldiers that were moving out. Both of them knew they were the most logical targets for Chronos and their army of Zoanoids, and both of them were confident in their ability to deal with the opposition before it could inflict too much damage on the soldiers they were protecting. However, Ryan was privately concerned about the presence of at least two Zoalords_at least_ two, and maybe more.

Still, hed be right there with them; that had to count for _something_.

XxXxX

Within the hidden lower-levels of the Chronos L.A. building, the Zoanoid and elite Hyper Zoanoid soldiers that had been brought in to replace Chronos L.A.s original stock of worthless and now, thanks to Overlord Edward Caerleon, dead Lost Numbers were all preparing for the coming battle.

Zektor and the rest of Team Five who had come up from the Africa Section were removing the tailored, dark-blue suits they had all worn while working alongside their little Overlord. Untying his tie, Zektor tossed it aside; slipping off his dark red sunglasses to reveal baby blue eyes, he set them on a nearby countertop and removed more of the suit, revealing the jumpsuit-uniform that all Zoaforms wore with the minor modifications that proclaimed his status as a Hyper Zoanoid to anyone familiar with Chronos varied uniforms. They were all skintight, both to avoid hampering their wearers with bulky, excessive clothing, and to potentially intimidate the enemy by showcasing their impressive musculature.

On the other side of the room, the Lost Number Samarubu was also getting rid of all the now-unnecessary, bulky clothing she had worn to blend in with the crowds of "normal" Zoanoids shed been forced to work with. Unbuttoning her dress jacket, she shucked it off and tossed it aside. Underneath was an off-white blouse she lost no time in unbuttoning, revealing taught muscles and her modified Lost Number uniform. The short-sleeved, midriff-baring top was her own design; it was one of the few things she could claim was truly hers.

Tossing her blouse aside, she undid the single button on her skirt, unzipped it, and let it fall where she stood, leaving her clad in what amounted to skivvies. Kicking off her shoes, Samarubu stepped into her uniform boots and pulled them up. Flicking her fingers, she ignited her left hand and paused to watch for a few moments, smirking and clenching her fist.

The flames went out.

Far away from both Samarubu and Team Five, the remainder of Chronos L.A.s army of Standard Zoanoids was also prepping for combat. Snapping on telepathy-amplification helmets that had been provided when they had become Combat Agents for the Chronos Corporation, a few of them looked over their shoulders at the row of processing-tanks on either side. They knew that very few of the Sleeper Units in those tanks would be participating in the coming battle, but there were still enough of them to form a respectable force.

Especially with four Zoalords to make sure they did what they were told.

The aforementioned Zoalords were getting ready for the coming battle as well. Waferdanos, however, had a bit more on his mind than simply getting himself prepared.

"Do I _really _have to wear all of this, Uncle Waferdanos?" little Ingriam asked, tugging at the specially-engineered material of the uniform jumpsuit he had been helped to put on not ten minutes prior.

"Yes; its part of what distinguishes us from our underlings, as well as the humans who would attempt to do us harm," he explained, settling his hands upon the childs shoulders; the physical contact would calm and reassure him, and calmness and surety were precisely what was required at this juncture. "And this does as well," he continued, lifting the young Zoalords cuirass, with its short faulds and attached pauldrons. "Now, hold your arms out, little one, and I will help you to finish preparing."

Undoing the clasps of the cuirass, Waferdanos gently affixed it about the little Zoalords torso, then set about closing the clasps once again. He gathered the vambraces, fastened them onto little Ingriams lower arms, and went back for the boys greaves. Guiding the boy-Zoalord to sit on one of the shelving units for medical supplies, he fastened the elaborately detailed greaves nothing less would have been suitable for a Zoalord and helped the child back to his feet.

Soon enough, all four of the Overlords who had come to this Section had fully prepared themselves to leave this facility and deal with the arrogant humans who would presume to attack them. Three of them had been monitoring their Zoanoid troops for signs of readiness, and they were pleased to note that their underlings were prepared to move out as well.

XxXxX

The convoy of ACTF combat vehicles moved swiftly but alertly through the darkened streets of the city. They didnt want to wake any of the people sleeping in the area particularly since they now knew that any one of those people could be one of Chronos Sleeper Unit Zoanoids. But since Chronos L.A. was far enough outside of the heavily populated center of the city, they didnt really worry about that too much.

At least, most of them didnt.

Still, the last thing any of them wanted to deal with was a bunch of curious civilians, even more so now that they knew about the depths those fuckers were willing to sink to in their pursuit of world dominationeven the concept of Sleeper Units was abhorrent to most of them. That was most of the reason why the ACTFs true purpose had been classified at Black levels: there was simply too much threat of discovery from the elements of the military that had been compromised by Chronos.

And now that was compounded by the Sleeper Units hidden among the civilian population, as well. Theyd instituted mandatory blood tests, several kinds spread over as many days, aimed at ferreting out those people who, for whatever reason, had been compromised by Chronos and hence could not be recruited into the ACTF. In that endeavor they were aided by the scientists who had chosen to side with humanity.

The Strykers engine sounds werent the kind of thing that could be easily be disguised; neither was the battle about to commence, so it was a relief to know they wouldnt be fighting in the more populated areas of the city. Still, Chronos had secrets they wanted to keep, as well; it wasnt like they were doing this for the soldiers own healththe small army of Zoanoids gathered in the parking lot were proof enough of that.

Four men were also present, each with long hair in varying styles, and most of them looking between twenty-five and thirty years old. All except for the large bearded man on the far right-hand side who looked about forty, that is. All four wore very strange looking battle gear: the only one that seemed to be wearing anything that looked even remotely practical was the one on the middle-left in the sunglasses. Even then, the oversized pauldrons looked more decorative than anything else.

"Well, at least you humans are _prompt_," the large bearded man rumbled.

"Stupid jerks," muttered the ponytailed man in the sunglasses, just loud enough to be picked up by the recorders on the outside of the lead vehicle.

In his Stryker at the back of the column, Lieutenant-Colonel Atkins clenched his fists on the dashboard. The audio and video that had been transmitted into his and all the other Strykers clinched the fact that Murakami had betrayed their cause. It was infuriating, but Atkins knew he couldnt afford to give vent to his emotions.

There would be time for _that_ later.


	56. Lock and Load

The troop-carriers and the Strykers rolled to a stop, releasing their personnel and pulling back; these were among the few Strykers that had been fully adapted to serve in anti-Zoanoid operations, and they couldnt afford to risk them in combat at this time. The Zoanoids facing them hissed and growled, even as the ACTF with Sean and Ryan backing them, ready to join as needed assembled in front of them. They might not have had the Strykers as a viable asset, but the Betas were in perfect order. Still, it wasnt an ideal situation by any stretch of the imagination.

Murakami looked like he was annoyed by even the _thought_ of them; the redhead had a single eyebrow raised; the Chinese man with the locks of hair covering his right eye was simply staring at them, looking like he couldnt have cared less about what they were all doing; and the big, bearded one was actually _laughing_ at them.

"We will give you one last chance to surrender, humans," the redhead stated in an almost bored tone.

__

How fucking generous_,_ Atkins thought, sneering. The only answer his fellow soldiers gave that Chronos bastard was a high-speed shell aimed directly at his head. The projectile struck some kind of invisible forcefield instead, hanging in midair for a moment before being knocked to the ground.

"I would have honestly expected nothing better from you pathetic little insects."

XxXxX

A spinning ball of flame flew from the redheads outstretched right hand; the foremost soldiers scattered like a flock of disturbed crows, an impression further strengthened by their black uniforms.

"Attack," Edward Caerleon intoned, a thread of steel in his tone in contrast to the bland expression on his face.

The first wave of Zoanoids surged forward, those in the rear transforming even as they ran and leaving the Anti Chronos Task Force to face a small army of monsters. The foremost Zoanoids were mercilessly cut down by the ACTFs modified rifles and machine guns: the battle lines had been drawn at last.

When the few remaining stragglers had been rounded up and eliminated, dissolving into thin fluid the way all of Chronos Zoanoids did, the black-haired Zoalord Li Yentsui; Rienzi to those who knew him well spoke for the first time.

"Your weapons are impressive, humans; I will grant you at least that much. However, the Zoanoids you have faced in the past were, at best, over-glorified cannon fodder. Do you truly think you can stand against the _true_ might of Chronos?"

With that last question, open-ended as it so clearly was, the remainder of Chronos Zoanoid forces transformed. The ones at the forefront of the battle group were the largest, but more than that, they all seemed to have enhancements that very few of the other Zoanoids had been granted. These, the latest batch of clones made of the vaunted Hyper Zoanoid Team Five, were looked up to as something like quasi-celebrities, considering their relationship to the Ninth Zoalord.

Two of them Zancrus and Zektor looked like bugs of varying types, particularly in Zancrus case; one of them Elegen looked like a bizarre cross between an eel and a squid; the largest Darzerb looked like some hellish, humanoid rhinoceros; and the last one Gaster owing to both his pinkish skin-tone and the sheer strangeness of his battleform, didnt particularly resemble any kind of animal. His huge shoulders might have been reminiscent of a porcupine, but only just.

"Take no prisoners!" Zektor bellowed, putting his huge lungs to work as he directed the troops for his Zoalord masters.

The second wave of transformed Zoanoids, much larger and more diverse than the first, swept forward. The ACTF soldiers, who had been reloading in preparation for just such an occurrence, raised their weapons and began another withering barrage of firepower. Only this time, the Zoanoids on the business end werent dying quite so easily.

XxXxX

Drake Shepherd, firing his newly-reloaded Zoanoid Buster Mk II, cursed briefly as the thing something that looked a hell of a lot like a leopard, and moved like one too leaped out of the way even as his projectile was in flight. Ducking out of the way before the leopard-thing could slash him in retaliation and loading three more shells, he chambered and fired them in quick succession. The first grazed the Zoanoids right flank, the second was a near miss, and the third tore the things left arm off at the elbow.

Loading three more shells, Drake fired again, hoping for another quick kill.

XxXxX

Ingriam smashed one of the big truck things the ones that Mr. Lord Caerleon had told him were called Strykers with his Concussion Wave, and laughed as the shrapnel fell all around him like metal rain. Or confetti; confetti was fun. Moving out of the way of the stuff that looked like it might fall on his head, Ingriam started looking around for another Stryker.

Most of them had driven away, but he knew he was going to get to kill them sooner or later; Mr. Lord Caerleon had told him to, and the people driving them were just a bunch of humans, anyway. Seeing another Stryker, with the kind of markings that made it look different from all of the others, Ingriam smiled. Mr. Lord Caerleon would be _really_ happy with him.

Well, as happy as Mr. Lord Caerleon ever got, anyway.

Picking up one of the cars (the way Dad had told him hed done sometimes when he _really_ wanted to get someones attention), he threw it at the Stryker. The soldiers inside the Stryker blew the car up before it hit them, but at least he had their attention now. Rubbing at his ringing ears, Ingriam raised his forcefield just in time to stop them from shooting him.

Closing his eyes against the scary flashing from the guns and the flying bullets, he started pushing forward. The specially marked Stryker was just up ahead, and he was the closest one to it; Mr. Lord Caerleon would be really mad at him if he didnt manage to do anything about it. And Dad would be so disappointed in him if he didnt manage to do anything.

He wouldnt really _say_ anything, but they would both know it.

As the bad soldiers started coming out of the Stryker, Ingriam started firing as many Wind Scythes as he could. The bad soldiers all died quickly, and he started moving forward again. Pretty soon, though, another group of them came running out. Just before he could fire more of his Wind Scythes, they all started firing at him; raising his forcefield, Ingriam stared moving forward again.

When they all stopped firing, Ingriam shot them before they could start again.

Breathing deeply, the way Mr. Lord Caerleon and Mr. Rienzi had taught him to do when he needed to steady himself, Ingriam watched as a dark-skinned man his skin was the color of Mr. Luggnaggs, and that was _really_ dark! came out of the Stryker and looked around. Ingriam knew that he was one of the bad soldiers from the way he was dressed, so when he started looking down at the splattered, messy remains of more bad soldiers, Ingriam aimed at him and let down his forcefield so he could fire without breaking it.

When the dark-skinned man looked back up at him, Ingriam noticed that he looked disappointed. He would have expected the man to be mad, since he was one of the bad soldiers and hed just killed one of them, but he really just looked disappointed somehow.

"You know, Murakami, of all the people who could have been subverted by Chronos, I honestly never thought it would be _you_."

Now he was _really_ confused.

"Um, am I supposed to know you or something?" he asked, peering more closely at the dark-skinned man.


	57. Under the Gun

"Are you trying to be funny, Murakami?" he snarled. "You seemed to know me pretty damn well when we talked on the phone."

Before he could blink, Murakami or the Zoalord whod been created from his remains, Imakarum had closed the distance between them. And, just as he was about to raise his Colt .45 and put a slug between the Zoalords eyes, he found both his hands trapped in the Zoalords grip. He knew, given what hed seen Murakami do back when he was "just" a Proto-Zoalord, that he wouldnt be able to break the Zoalords grip with or without help. And, given the look on Murakamis face, he was starting to think he might not need to.

"You," Murakami said, leaning forward and speaking in a low, urgent tone as he licked his lips. "You were talking to my dad?"

What the hell? Of all the things that Murakami could have said, Atkins had to admit that hed never expected something like that. Some of his confusion must have shown through on his face, because Murakami let go of his hands and stepped back a pace. Hiding his hands behind his back, Murakami gave him a look that was obviously plaintive, even with his eyes covered by mirrored, wraparound sunglasses.

It was weird, almost like he wasnt dealing with someone whod been Masaki Murakami at all.

XxXxX

Just then, Ingriam started to hear more people coming. He knew right away that they werent Zoanoids, so that meant that they had to be more of the bad soldiers! Grabbing the dark-skinned mans arm, he pulled him away: even if he was one of the bad soldiers, he knew where Dad was, so Ingriam wasnt going to let him get hurt.

Pulling the dark-skinned man along, Ingriam jumped from one Stryker to the next, then flew up only one of the smaller buildings. There were enough Zoanoids in front of them to make Ingriam sure that he would be able to talk to the dark-skinned man without being interrupted by more of the bad soldiers. None of the other Zoalords had called him, either.

They probably didnt need him, anyway.

A cool breeze blew across his face as Ingriam let go of the mans arm and took of his sunglasses. "How do you know my dad? Have you seen him lately?" He had to resist the urge to sit down or start pacing or fidget; Uncle Waferdanos had said that he shouldnt do those kinds of things in front of humans. "Has he said anything about me?"

"Wait," the dark-skinned man said, looking Ingriam right in the eyes. "Youre _Kenji_?"

"Oh, Dad did tell you about me," he said, smiling. "Wait you didnt think that I _was_ Dad, did you?" he giggled. "That would be silly!"

"Yeah," the dark-skinned man said, sounding like he didnt quite know what to think. "Very silly." But he didnt laugh, and he sounded really serious, almost worried.

"Why are you fighting us anyway, mister?"

"Why are you even _asking _me that?" the dark-skinned man said, looking at Ingriam like he thought he was being silly. "You were raised by Masaki Murakami. You _have_ to know how evil Chronos is."

"Chronos isnt _evil_." He shook his head. "Whered you hear a stupid thing like that?" He paused to think. "Maybe you could come back with me; then you could learn about how Chronos really is And and then maybe you could talk to Dad for me."

He turned to look out over the Zoanoids, having felt something like happiness from them, and when one of the Strykers blew up, Ingriam laughed. None of the bad soldiers were even getting close to this building, and the lines of Zoanoids standing guard in front of the big, main Chronos building hadnt been broken. And, with all of the Hyper Zoanoids and the three other Zoalords there, he didnt think they would be.

So that was good.

"Kenji, the_ last _thing that I would ever want to do is walk into a Chronos stronghold," the dark-skinned man said, sounding very serious. "The first thing that any of th- _they_ would do is torture me for any information I have, or try to process me."

"Well, youd be with me," he said. "Youre one of Dads friends, so Id protect you."

"I dont think it would work out quite like that, Kenji," the dark-skinned man said, looking Ingriam right in the eyes. "The first thing any of them would do, after you took me into any of their bases, is separate us."

"But after I explain that youre one of Dads friends-"

"That wouldnt help," the dark-skinned man said.

He said a lot more, or at least his lips were still moving, but it was like someone had turned his ears off or something, because Ingriam couldnt hear a word of it.

__

-Ingriam, just what do you think you are doing?-

-Oh, hi, Mr. Caerleon, er, Lord Caerleon- I mean, Edward.-

-You are consorting with the enemy, Ingriam,- Mr. Lord Caerleon said, and he almost sounded mad. Mr. Lord Caerleon _never_ sounded mad, even when Ingriam knew he really was mad, so Ingriam knew hed probably done something really bad. _-This is for your own good, Ingriam.-_

He didnt see anything for a little bit, like a really long blink, but when he could see again, the dark-skinned man hed been talking to wasnt there anymore. He couldnt have gone anywhere, though, not unless he can fly like I can, and- Hearing someone yell, Ingriam looked over the edge of the building.

Jumping to the top of the railing, Ingriam leaped after the falling man. A fall from three floors probably wouldnt be enough to kill him, but none of the Zoanoids would understand that he was Dads friend, and he didnt think they would be likely to let him explain about that, either. Dad wouldnt be very happy with him if he found out that Ingriam had met one of his friends and not helped him when hed accidentally fallen off the edge of a building, and he really didnt want Dad to be mad at him.

Out of the corner of his left eye, Ingriam saw a blur of motion, and then _something _pulled the dark-skinned man right out of the air before he could hit his head on the ground. That something turned out to be that Fourth Guyver, so that wasnt good. Turning himself around in midair, the way Dad had taught him to do when they were flying, Ingriam closed his eyes and started to transform.

The way the young Zoalords eyes started glowing, shining right through his eyelids like a pair of alien fireflies, would have been a clear warning to anyone who knew him of just what his intentions were. However, neither the Fourth Guyver Sean Barker nor Lieutenant Colonel Aiden Atkins had ever met Ingriam or any of the other Chronos Overlords before this very night. Even if they had, they were facing the wrong direction to be able to see the boy-Zoalords eyes at all.

Ingriams human skin stretched like taffy, revealing his Zoacrystal and twenty-five Gravity Points. The little Zoalords bones and muscles, already far denser and stronger than any humans, were enhanced until even the strongest of Hyper Zoanoids would have had a difficult time matching him, even discounting his advantages as a member of the Chronos Overlords. Claws emerged from the ends of Ingriams fingers; the three middle toes on his feet merged together to form a much larger, single toe; and three short spines emerged from the top of his now-hairless head. At last, Ingriams ears grew a pair of long, curving, up-swept crests from the top and bottom, and a pair of small, diamond-shaped growths emerged from the backs of his wrists. His skin, once soft and lightly tanned like a humans, was now two distinct shades of blue, stronger than tempered steel.

The whole of the young Zoalords transformation took only two minutes, accompanied by a flare of light bright enough to obscure all aspects of the change from anyone but another Zoalord. Fully transformed and ready to fight, Ingriam went right after the Guyver that had taken his Dads friend; Dad would be really sad if his friend got hurt. He knew, because hed be sad if Big Brother Zektor the real one, anyway got hurt when he could do something about it.


	58. On The Outside

As he pulled Atkins out of the path of the strangely dressed, falling Zoanoid, Sean turned and flew as fast as he could for the back of the ACTFs defensive lines; Atkins would be a hell of a lot safer there, since the front-lines hadnt been breached. And, if he and Ryan had any say in the matter, they never would be. The Zoanoid could probably fly, or else it was just terminally stupid, but hed learned not to rely on that kind of thing anymore. As much as he hated to admit it sometimes, Ryan had been righthe really _hadnt_ known just what he was getting into when hed first decided to fight against Chronos.

He was sure as hell learning now, though.

When his hyper-sensors started reacting to a powerful surge of energy, just as a bright light appeared behind him, Sean knew something drastic had just happened. Given what was already going on, both on the ground and in the air, it wasnt likely to be anything good. Just managing to dodge out of the way of something almost too fast for his hyper-sensors to detect, Sean flew still farther across the increasingly chaotic battlefield. Hed managed to spare Atkins any injury, but Sean himself wasnt nearly so lucky: his right arm had been sheared off, just a couple inches above the elbow, after hed raised it in an instinctive gesture of self-defense. As his severed arm dropped to the ground far below, Sean looked back over his shoulder. Morbid curiosity and survival instinct both compelled him to see just what had wounded him so badly.

He found Zoanoid unlike any he had ever seen before. He had no doubts about it being a Zoanoid; this just happened to be a really weird one. Hed never faced off against a Zoanoid that looked so human, even _after_ it had transformed. The only things that made this Zoanoid stand out as inhuman anymore were the spines sticking out of its head; the fact that the things skin was two shades of blue; and the crystalline orbs sunk into its chest, hips, and forehead. Aside from the short claws on the fingertips, this Zoanoid didnt look like he had any weapons at all.

It wasnt like Chronos to make such a weak Zoanoid.

That, however, wasnt really the pressing issue on Seans mind. He was actually _glad _to be facing such a weak Zoanoid, in factmost of Chronos new stock were the stuff of nightmares: strong, tough, and vicious enough to make him almost think twice about trying to fight them. Ryan, on the other hand, seemed to be able to handle himself in combat with these new Zoanoids. So did Aptom, but he was something entirely different.

The Enzyme IIIs were a different story, though, whatever they were.

XxXxX

The charred remains of her opponents littered the parking lot, and Samarubu smirked as she walked away from the carnage and wreckage she had just created. Some of the guys had taken one of those big Stryker trucks down and blown it up about ten minutes ago, but that hadnt seemed to have much of an impact on the Army ants who were trying to get into their building. The fireball had been really cool, though.

Samarubu yawned briefly, just as she started hearing the sounds of motorcycles coming her way. She broke into a full-out grin as she turned toward the sound of the engines. Those guys were fast and maneuverable, but that just made it more fun to catch them. Taking off at a run, Samarubu soon caught sight of the Army ants whod come in on the motorcycles. Whoever the idiots were whod decided to ride in on the choppers, they were about to learn just how bad an idea that had been; they wouldnt survive the lesson.

Samarubu paced the bike on the left as it raced along on its merry way through the parking lot. The rider was wearing armor, so they werent _completely_ stupid; still, she wasnt going to let something like that stop her. When the little Army ant started shooting at her, she smirked as she ducked and dodged the hailstorm of firepower. Kicking the motorcycle midway between the front and back wheels, she laughed as the thing bucked the rider off or he jumped, but that wasnt nearly as funny before tipping over entirely to lie inertly on its side. Laughing heartily, she hefted the bike one-handed.

A girl could get used to being this strong.

The next of the enemy troopers to try challenging her got smacked upside the head with his buddys bike; hefting the most-likely-dead-guys bike with her unoccupied left hand, she stalked after the first guy shed downed. He was up and, judging by the look on his face as he aimed at her, pissed something fierce.

Samarubu had developed a healthy respect for the kind of damage those guns could do, especially after seeing so many Zoanoids getting their heads blown off or _up_ by those things. Still, the guys whod been on the business end of those things were all uniformly slow, large, and bulky, none of which she had even pretended to be. More than likely, shed be able to handle this puny human on her own. She still wasnt going to be careless in any way, since that was bound to get her killed, speed and agility be damned. Most of the guys were stupid and cocky anyway, and look where it had got _them_.

Using the two bikes as stabilizers, Samarubu darted and wove out of the path of the hailstorm of firepower he was directing her way. Leaping forward just as he had begun to reload, she smashed his puny, squishy little body between the two motorcycles clutched in her iron grip. As he fell to the ground, either mortally wounded or dead, Samarubu barked a laugh. Times like this, she could just manage to forget what she was and all that it implied for her future.

As she tossed the bikes away, Samarubu heard a low, rumbling voice from behind her.

"Where the hell did you pick up _that_ move?" the Gregole asked, sounding impressed in spite of himself.

"Saw it in a movie," she said, deciding to humor one of the few people whod spoken _to_ her rather than _at_ her. "What happened to the other guy?"

"Stepped on his head," the Gregole said, shrugging offhandedly. "Cmon. The boss-guysll be wanting us to link up with one of the other groups out there."

"No arguments on my end." None that she would _admit_ to, at any rate.

XxXxX

As his mane of Villus Subjecti encircled the battlefield where he stood, denying the humans stable footing while offering protection to his own Zoanoid forces, Waferdanos wondered just what it was that made these humans want to fight against Chronos. Did they not realize that Chronos simply wanted to offer them a better way of living? Something beyond being paltry, limited humans?

They offered aid to those on their side who required it, so they were not _completely_ without merit. Still, they were fighting and attempting to kill the Zoanoids he had brought with him from the South American Sections Brazil facilityZoanoids that Waferdanos felt were extensions of his own mind. He could feel it when they died, could feel and sense the last thoughts and emotions of every one of the Zoanoids not directly under the sway of one of his fellow Lords.

As much as he would have preferred another option, he knew what he had to do to stop his Zoanoids from dying. The attacking humans had already demonstrated the willingness to die for their cause whatever cause that was and a distinct _unwillingness_ to even speak in a civil manner to any Zoanoid. They had made their own decisions, and now they would have to live or die with the consequences.

XxXxX

The hair and here was the point where, if hed had any time for distractions, Sergeant Nathan Reynolds would have been slack-jawed with surprise at what he was actually _standing_ on that Reynolds and the rest of his unit had found themselves having to climb on top of, started to writhe in a distinctly unsettling manner. That was, of course, just before the whole situation went FUBAR. The hair turned almost instantly into a storm of flying _things_, things that looked like tentacles, and yet were clearly made up of the thick hair that Reynolds and his unit were standing on. The hair-tentacles started spinning in a manner eerily reminiscent of industrial drills, and Reynolds had only a handful of seconds to notice that none of the Zoanoids seemed to be having any trouble with their footing before he started hearing the unmistakable screams of dying soldiers. Reynolds turned, only to be confronted with the horrifying spectacle of one of his own Private First Class Carson Raydek with one of those hairy drills sticking right through his shredded chest.

"Mother of God," Reynolds muttered, disgusted, awed, and terrified all at once.

XxXxX

As Sean felt another kick connect solidly with his midsection, hearing the mocking laughter giggles, really, which just made it all the more infuriating of the guy he was supposed to be fighting he couldnt help but wonder just what in the hell hed been thinking when hed tried to take on a _Zoalord_. At least Atkins was safely back on the ground, but Ryan was right. As much as hed hated to admit that, it was the truth.

Hed been played by Chronos from the first minute those new Zoanoids of theirs had started showing up. Maneuvered into thinking he couldnt trust Ryan (the only Guyver hed met who was on his side rather than out for his blood) and led to believe he and the rest of the ACTF were doing real damage to Chronos forces when theyd really only been a slight annoyance at best; he was paying for those assumptions now.

When another Galma slammed into him, driving him down and backwards through the air, Sean wondered for a moment why he didnt just give up right here and now. He was facing a force hed had no concept of before; there were hundreds of ACTF soldiers being mercilessly slaughtered right beneath him, and there were three other Zoalords participating in this battle. Maybe it was all hopeless; maybe Chronos really was going to win, and there was nothing even an army of Guyvers could do to stop them.


	59. Furious Angels

That was when he caught sight of Ryan again.

Hed lost track of the other Guyver when that wedge of Hyper Zoanoids had forced them apart, but just then, his hyper-sensors alerted him to the Galma was coming his way, and Sean turned almost casually to blast the Zoanoid away with his Pressure Cannon. Watching as Ryan performed three backward flips in midair, probably just for the sake of doing it, Sean saw him grab the heads of two Valvatos and crush them into falling fragments. The fact that Ryan was still fighting on, in spite of the slim odds and the mental fatigue he had to be feeling after fighting for so long, gave Sean back his nerve.

If Ryan could find some hope in this desperate situation some reason to fight on, no matter what it was then so could he.

Glaring at the remaining Galma buzzing in front of him, well aware that no one but himself knew he was even doing so, Sean made his whole body a fist and drove himself forward, straight through the ranks of the Galma, aiming for the Zoalord they were all protecting. He was stopped short by the simple expedient of slamming face-first into what felt like a very solid, albeit invisible, wall, and Sean seethed as the two-toned, blue Zoalord started pointing and laughing.

"What, you didnt think I had a forcefield? Stupid Guyver!" The Zoalord stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry, which really pissed Sean off, before he started laughing all over again.

Sean beat on the Zoalords forcefield with his fists, fired the Head Beam at it, and even tried hitting it with the Pressure Cannon several times. Nothing seemed to work, leaving him a frustrated potential target for the Galma still buzzing around. Dodging as his hyper-sensors informed him that they were coming at him, he snarled inwardly as he heard that damned Zoalord start laughing again.

Punching one of the insectile Zoanoids hard enough to shatter its skull, Sean splattered the other ones guts all over the ground with the Pressure Cannon. That only left seven that he had to deal withthat, and the Zoalord still hiding behind that goddamned forcefield of his. He wasnt entirely sure about his chances of coming out on top in a fight with a Zoalord, but he was at least confident enough to handle Chronos new batch of Zoanoids. Another warning from his hyper-sensors, just before he heard the cacophonous shrieks and screeches, finally drew Seans attention away from the cackling Zoalord. Extending his Vibration Blades, he braced himself for what was about to come.

XxXxX

__

)This is nuts,( Elegen grumbled. _)No matter how many of these puppets we blast, five more always show up to take their place. I _thought _wed be far enough away from the main area of the city to shoot any of the damned Sleeper Units before they got here.(_

)Well, you apparently thought wrong, Snake-head. Still, its not like we dont have a way to deal with overly-large numbers of Zoanoids.(

)He might be using it right now, you know,( Elegen sent, clearly trying to be realistic.

__

)I know; thats why Im going to ask first. I have some_ manners, you know.(_

)That wasnt really the he I had in mind, kid.(

)Well, if that pile of flaming dickweed has his grubby mitts on what I want, then Ill just take the thing. Let him_ see what its like to be completely and utterly fucked over.(_

Mental chuckles were Elegens only response, so Ryan turned his attention to the Guyver-link.

__

+Sho, you busy?+

+Ryan? I didnt expect to be hearing from you so soon. How is your search going? Did you find out where that signal was coming from?+

+Yeah, I did. Turns out it is_ another Guyver, just like you thought.+_

+Oh, thats good. Does that mean that youre going to come back soon, Ryan?+

+No. Well, not just yet, at least.+

+Why not?+

+Chronos decided they really didnt like my new friends,+ Ryan said, going for flippancy in the hopes of calming Sho down. _+That kind of ties into the whole reason I called, come to think of it.+_

+How so?+

+I was wondering if I could borrow the Gigantic.+

+Oh. Well, of course you can, Ryan.+

+Thanks, Sho.+

+Youre welcome. But+

+What is it, Sho?+

+Thank you You know, for asking.+

+Its no problem, Sho,+ he said easily.

Pausing for a moment amid the falling corpses of Zoanoids hed dismembered, Ryan focused his mind in the way that was starting to become second nature. When he could feel something just on the edge of his perception something beyond the borders of the physical world responding to his thoughts, Ryan concentrated his will on that, sparing just enough attention for the Guyver to keep him flying.

"Guyver!"

He could clearly sense it when the cocoon with the Gigantic inside appeared behind him, and that made him feel a lot better about the situation. When the cocoon had absorbed him and the Gigantic was beginning to clamp onto his regular Guyver armor, Ryan felt some of the same numbness that he did whenever he used the Giga. He figured it was only natural, since both the Giga and the Gigantic itself did some pretty drastic limb-and-body-rearranging when they were activated.

Once the armoring-up had been fully completed, he was released from the cocoon, ready to take the fight to the next level. Busting the skulls and cleaving the bodies of the Zoanoids in his way made him a rallying point for the remaining ACTF soldiers, and as he swept the areas around them with shots from his amped-up Head Beam as well as the normal-powered ones on either side of it he began to search for Sean again.

XxXxX

Sean was starting to feel himself faltering; no matter how many Zoanoids he killed, at least three more seemed to be waiting in the wings to attack him. And that damned Zoalord _still_ hadnt stopped laughing.

__

+Sean?+

+Ryan? Oh, you have no_ idea how glad I am to hear from you right now.+_

+Given the way you sound, I think I can hazard a guess.+ He heard Ryans chuckle, but it was clearly a gentle sort of amusement, so Sean didnt begrudge it.

__

+What are you contacting me for, anyway?+

+I was wondering if you wanted to use the Giga, since you seem to be having so much trouble. And since Im already using the Gigantic,+ he added, after what had clearly been a pause to think.

__

+Sure. We never really got to talk about just what the Gigantic really is_, though,+_ he said.

__

+I think you might have been just a teensy _bit too preoccupied with yelling at me and throwing me out of the base to worry about a little thing like that,+_ Ryan said with a chuckle.

__

+Yeah,+ he said, feeling like a complete and utter idiot, despite the obvious fact that Ryan didnt blame him for anything. _+About thatId like to apologize. You know, for being such a complete idiot. I cant believe I was ever that stupid, but I can tell you that it wont be happening again.+_

+Dont worry about it; it was an understandable mistake for someone in your position. Now, what I actually wanted to ask you about was the Giga. Do you want to use it?+

+Hell yes! How does it work?+

+You call for it, just like any Guyver. The rest is pretty much intuitive.+

Nodding, even as he crushed the head of a diving Valvatos with a kick, Sean focused on his new objective. "Giga!"


	60. When the World Ends

He felt a strange numbness creeping throughout his body, even as he heard the soft slurping sounds that hed heard once and only once before in his life. Without the pain of the initial binding to distract him, and with his senses enhanced by the Guyver itself, Sean found the process almost ordinary.

XxXxX

__

-Ingriam, retreat. You are not yet skilled enough to face an enhanced Guyver.-

-But Lord Caerleon I mean, Edward I-

-Now_, Ingriam.-_

-Yes, Mr. Lord Caerleon.- Stupid Guyver, Ingriam grumbled mentally as he teleported away.

The arrival of those stupid super-Guyvers had made all the bad soldiers really happy, which would have been bad enough on its own, but they were also killing a lot more of his Zoanoids than they had been when they were just normal Guyvers. He really didnt like that; most Zoanoids were cute, and all of them were really nice to him. He hated to see them die, especially fighting against a pair of stupid super-Guyvers.

But there was nothing he could do; Mr. Lord Caerleon had said that he wasnt ready to fight the super-Guyvers, and he would be _really_ mad at him if he tried to fight them anyway. When he saw the big Stryker, he clenched his fists and glared down at ithe hated the Guyvers, but the bad soldiers were all working with them, and so he hated them, too. Blasting the Stryker with Gravity Bullets until it was nothing but flaming wreckage, Ingriam jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"That was most appreciated, little one."

"Oh, thanks, Mr. Rienzi," he said, smiling back at the other Zoalord.

"However, I believe that in spite of any of our efforts this battle will not end well for Chronos."

"What do you mean?" he asked, starting to get worried.

"Just look up ahead."

"Huh?" He turned to look where Mr. Rienzi was pointing and saw the two super-Guyvers flying up into the sky.

"Come, we should leave."

Ingriam looked back, about to ask why when he sensed a strong buildup of energy. He knew it was coming from those stupid super-Guyvers: it had to be coming from the Hyper-Smasher and Giga-Smasher. Hed only seen the power of the _Mega_-Smasher for the first time tonight; those had to be a whole lot more powerful than that. Maybe even a hundred times more powerful!

Ingriam clasped Mr. Rienzis hand, wanting to feel close to at least _someone_, and the two of them teleported away.

XxXxX

The power of the Hyper-Smasher, no longer contained by the Gigantics armored chestplates, ripped into the ranks of Zoanoids and destroyed them completely. The same could be said of the Giga Guyvers Giga-Smasher, but the destruction was not limited to merely the Zoanoids and Hyper Zoanoids armies in front of them. Indeed, with almost no resistance, the two Smasher beams passed through the massed Zoaforms and pulverized the nearly rebuilt Chronos L.A. building into rubble.

The two enhanced Guyvers, drained of their energy, disappeared into the boost-dimension to recharge. Ryan and Sean, not much better off themselves, quickly landed and shed their Guyver armor. They were swiftly picked up by grinning ACTF troops and loaded into a Stryker for the ride back to the ACTFs forward base. From some unknown reserve, Sean managed to summon the energy to grin back at the soldiers helping him, but Ryan was already falling asleep.

Some of the soldiers were discussing the battle just past, conducting an impromptu after action report; the Stryker where Ryan and Sean rested, however, was as silent as a moving vehicle ever became. All the better to allow the two heroic young men who had made this victory possible to get some well-deserved rest.

By this time, even Sean had fallen asleep.

Once all of the remaining soldiers had returned to the compound, bringing with them the salvageable Strykers and the wounded and dead soldiers. Four of the soldiers riding in the Stryker with the two slumbering Guyvers took up the two stretchers and moved the sleeping teens slowly out of the vehicle.

Moving quickly but quietly, as most soldiers learned to do, some of those unburdened by the stretchers watched a group of Aptoms clones walking by. Most of them were still fairly ambivalent about Aptom, though the Tech Division and the white-coats practically had hard-ons at the thought of all they could learn from him, in however many ways, and with however many of him they were dealing with. There was also the fact that he was damned handy to have around when there were Zoanoids that needed killing, and the fact that he could create his own personal army when the mood truck him had gone a long way toward convincing Atkins and most of the others that it would be in the ACTFs best interests if Aptom and a few of his clones could be convinced to come with them when they returned to their main base.

The fact that they would be bringing another Guyver back with them wasnt even in question.


	61. It's Not Over

Ryan woke up feeling unusually refreshed. But, then again, hed only ever used the Giga before, and everyone knew that that thing sucked energy out of you like a sugar-happy kid with a chocolate milkshake.

__

)Now that youre feeling a bit more coherent, kid, maybe we could start talking about your future here.(

)Snake-head, I dont have _a future here.(_

)So youre definitely going back to Japan.(

)Yeah. Sho needs me more than these guys do, especially with that lying louse Agito hanging around all the time.(

)I wont argue with you there, kid. I guess wed better get going.(

)Guess so,( he sent, rising from the bed and yawning as he made his way to the door.

When hed left the room and started making his way down the empty corridor, he wasnt surprised to find that the first person he ran into was Sean. Ryan noticed that his fellow Guyver looked particularly cheerful, if somewhat worse for wear.

"Ryan! I was just coming to get you," Sean said, grinning widely. "That Giga of yours sure packs a punch. Anyway, most of the guys are celebrating in the mess hall, and I was wondering if youd like to head down there with me."

"Sure," he said, answering Seans grin with one of his own. "Hell, itd make a great send-off."

"Send-off? What do you mean?"

"This is my last day here, Sean," he explained. "Ive got people who need me back in Japanone of our fellow Guyvers, in fact. Besides, youve got Aptom here," he chucked. "Several of him, come to think of it. Hes good for at _least_ ten Zoanoids apiece."

XxXxX

He and Ryan both had a good laugh about that, and Sean mentally conceded that no matter how strange and creepy the red-eyed Zoanoid-eater could be, he did make one hell of an asset to their side. The more there were of him, the more damage he, they, and the ACTF would be able to do to the remaining Chronos facilities. That would have to be enough; hed spent enough time around Ryan to know that his fellow Guyver was just as determined some might say hardheaded as he was. Ryan just did a better job of covering it with his laid-back attitude and biting sarcasm.

Once the both of them had settled into their chosen seats in the mess hall, it didnt take very long for Ryans plans and the reasons behind them to become known to the higher-ups at the compound. They all agreed, after his explanation of the situation, that he was more urgently needed in Japan, but their offer of continued help and potential shelter almost came as a surprise. It shouldnt have, of course: Ryan was one of Chronos most visible enemies, and the ACTF owed him for the help hed already given them.

Come to think of it, so do I, Sean mused. "Once were done with dinner, Ill see you off."

"Well see you off," Shepherd corrected, rising.

"Theyll see you off, but _Ill_ come with you," Aptom said, his grin only _slightly_ insane.

"Have a good time in Japan, boss," one of Aptoms clones called out, grinning in that same slightly insane way.

"Yeah. Bring us back something nice," one of the other clones put in.

The late night meal was soon over completely, so Aptom, Sean, Ryan, and Shepherd left the mess hall and headed for the improvised motor pool. Sean was well aware that he, Ryan, and Aptom could have easily flown all the way out to the coast, but he also knew that that would have been bad for secrecytheirs and the ACTFs.

The Chronos base in this area might have been put out of commission in the most permanent way possible, but that still didnt solve the problem of all the Sleeper Units theyd been able to infiltrate into the area. In fact, as soon as he and Shepherd got back to the base, he was going to suggest that Atkins start organizing Hunter groups to deal with the stragglers. But, for the moment, there were people he was seeing off.

The four of them soon arrived at the beach, parking as close as they could get to the edge of the lot and piling out of the car. Although the place would have been thronging with people during the day, forcing them to find another place to depart from to avoid risking the secrecy of the war effort, for the time being it was deserted.

Perfect for their needs.

XxXxX

With a word, Ryan called his Guyver. Hovering with the aid of his Gravity Controller, the Fifth Guyver saluted Shepherd and Sean both. Shepherd saluted in return, while Sean simply waved at his fellow Guyver. Ryan, turning so that he was oriented horizontally, jetted off across the water at nearly top speed. Even so, it would take him several hours to return to Japan.

Aptom, never one for sentiment when he didnt honestly feel it, flew off without a word or a look back.

XxXxX

__

+Sho, you up?+

+Im awake, Ryan.+

+Im just starting on my way back, and boy do I have a story for you,+ he said; he would have smiled pensively if hed been capable of it.

__

+I look forward to hearing it, then. And, Ryan?+

+What is it, Sho?+

+Thank you. For for coming back. I know how much you miss your home.+

+Its just a place, Sho. Besides, L.A.s not my home; Colorado is. L.A. doesnt have that cool, clear mountain air that I like.+

+Oh,+ Sho said, sounding surprised. _+I guess I understand. I hope you have a good trip back, then.+_

+You and me both, brother,+ he said, chuckling.


	62. Archangel

Far away from where Ryan was flying back to Japan, inside the Celestial Hall that was concealed in the lowest level of Chronos Arizona Base One, the Twelve Supreme Lords had convened after their latest battle. Rienzi and Waferdanos briefed Alkanphel and the others on what had transpired at the now-destroyed Los Angeles facility. Edward Caerleon was, of course, also taking the opportunity to inform the other Chronos Supreme Lords of his own findings. Ingriam, however, wasnt speaking; instead, the youngest of Chronos Zoalord Council was trembling slightly as he looked over at his father.

__

-Dad? Did you hear what I helped do for Chronos? Did- did I make you proud of me, Dad?-

Imakarum, several seats down, didnt answer. Instead, he turned away from his son and faced the three Zoalords making their report. What he had to do was hard enough, Imakarum knew; looking at Ingriam would have made it impossible.

__

-Dad?- Ingriam called again, starting to _visibly_ tremble. _-Daddy?-_

Tuaha De Galenos, sitting in his place next to Ingriam at the large, circular Council table where eleven of the Twelve Zoalords were sitting, reached out and clasped the Ninth Zoalords left hand. Waferdanos had been correct about him: the young one really was too emotionally fragile for his own mental health. Such were the risks of subjecting such a young, damaged boy to processing as a Zoalord, and then instating him as one of the Nine Overlords before he had been given a chance to recover and mature.

Galenos could not understand why Lord Alkanphel had even considered the boys reprocessing in the first place. And more than that, to make him the new Ninth Zoalord? He could understand their Supreme Overlords desire to reward the boyhe had displayed exceptional loyalty to Chronos as a whole, and the Council in particularbut there had most assuredly been a better way for their Lord to demonstrate his considerable gratitude, never mind more suitable candidates for the then-vacant Ninth Zoalord position. However, the facts remained what they were; the boy remained what _he_ was; and there was no point in dwelling on things that could not be changed.

"I suppose I made something of a miscalculation when I suggested that we not annihilate the Anti Chronos Task Force when we had the chance. I apologize for that oversight."

"No need, Imakarum," Edward Caerleon said with his usual calm. "We knew previously that this Anti Chronos Task Force was powerful, but we are now aware of their limits, as well. They were almost overwhelmed by a small force of Hyper Zoanoids, not to mention the damage that we four Zoalords were able to cause to their forces." He paused for a moment. "I would venture that even with the Fourth Guyvers allegiance, the Anti Chronos Task Force will not present a significant obstacle to our plans. They will not be able to prevent X-Day."

"Still," Waferdanos interjected, "it troubles me that both Aptom and the Fifth Guyver have joined forces with the Anti Chronos Task Force."

"Yes, the Fifth Guyver is far more dangerous than the Fourth. Still, even if he were somehow able to train the Fourth Guyver to be as formidable an adversary as he himself is, they would still be only two Guyvers. What are two Guyvers, or even four, when compared to the sheer might of our forces?" Khans thoughts on the matter were clear.

Still, though the two groups were at odds, Tuaha found these humans worthy of at least a modicum of respect; it was a sentiment that he doubted would be shared by the rest of the Council.

XxXxX

Alkanphel, while he was carefully considering the reports that his children had been giving him, found himself slightly distracted by the confusion and mental pain he could feel radiating from Kenji. The way the youngest of his children was feeling reminded Alkanphel uncomfortably of his own abandonment at the hands of the Advents. Still, Kenji had the advantage of his presence: he would not have to endure the same crushing loneliness that he himself had been forced to endure.

__

-Kenji, can you maintain your composure for a few minutes longer?-

-Alkanphel? Do you- do you think Dad hates me? Is that why he wont talk to me anymore?-

-Kenji, I know for a fact that Masaki doesnt hate you. I will speak to him again, but in the meantime you must endure for a little while longer. Can you trust me, and do that?-

-I- I think I can do that,- Kenji said, sounding small and timid and uncertain.

Gently manipulating the nerves on the back of Kenjis neck and the top and back of his head, Alkanphel made him feel as if his hair was being softly stroked. It always seemed to calm him down when Masaki did it, and it served the same purpose this time. It seemed to help that Tuaha was sitting next to him, holding his hand; and Masaki would have to give a good account of himself if he wanted to avoid Alkanphels displeasure.

"Lord Alkanphel, would it not be prudent to initiate X-Day with all speed, now that we know the full extent of the Anti Chronos Task Forces capabilities?"

Alkanphel, who had turned to regard Kenji during their telepathic exchange the boy being too bereft by the loss of contact with Masaki to respond to anything considered more impersonal turned his gaze on Shin as his Fourth Zoalord spoke. "Yes," he said firmly, satisfied with all of the information that his children had gathered about the most recently discovered enemies of Chronos. "This farce ends tomorrow."

End _Meeting Places  
The saga continues in _Days of Fire and Thunder


End file.
